Rise of Cobra
by Gambit14
Summary: Prequel to Mirrorverse. Cobra's cooked up a bunch of shapeshifters and is planing a takeover. Next, forces gather in Bayville R
1. Change is coming

I don't own anybody, except the occasional non-important bit character. Anyone not owned by Marvel is Red Witch's. Any politicians mentioned in this story are in no way reflective of actual politicians.  
  
Change is Coming  
  
Watcher files, entry 1265493873: It has recently crossed my mind that I have been unclear in my recent documents about the "Mirrorverse." I neglected to describe exactly how the terrorist organization known as Cobra came into control of the Americas. To that end, these files shall be known as the rise of Cobra. It begins shortly after Mystique and Zartan's failed coup of Cobra.   
  
Zartan was pacing his cell. Zanya came up.  
  
"Father," she hissed, "I have only one question for you. What were you thinking?"  
  
"Zanya," chuckled Zartan amusedly, "I was thinking the same thing you were until you decided you could do better betraying me to the head snake himself. I was thinking that this was an ideal opportunity to advance myself."  
  
"Apparently not quite ideal, considering you got caught," snapped Zanya.  
  
"Actually, I was quite aware of the danger of being caught. So I had a backup plan." He withdrew a vial from his pocket.  
  
"What's that?" Asked Zanya.  
  
"Mystique's own unique DNA. Specifically the chromosome that allowed her to shapeshift so efficiently."  
  
"Interesting."  
  
"I'm sure Mindbender can do some wonderful things with it," Zartan grinned. "Provided, of course that I get let out of here."   
  
Cobra Commander was on his throne talking on his multi screen videophone, "No, I want them dead! D-E-A-D. Dead! What part of that don't you understand? No! I don't want them captured! Take a gun and shoot them in the head!" Suddenly the huge double doors to the hallway burst open. The Dreadknocks tossed a few guards on a pile on the floor.  
  
"Security's horrible," drawled Zartan.  
  
Cobra Commander suddenly had a gun in his hand, "Perhaps, but my aim isn't. So, quickly, what do you want?"  
  
Zartan held up a vial. "To make a deal."  
  
Cobra Commander smiled beneath his hood. "I have a feeling I'll like this deal already."  
  
Mindbender led the way into his lab. "We've made several impressive advancements, sir. I am completely convinced that we are only a few days away from making a major breakthrough."  
  
"How much longer?" Hissed Cobra Commander.  
  
"A week at the least."  
  
"Not good enough Mindbender. Not. Good. Enough. You have three days. After that you I'll dump you in that vat you're keeping your experiments in, and watch you simmer.  
  
Mindbender gulped. "Yes sir." He turned to his flunkies and began barking out orders. "You, you and you, you're no longer on cloning, you're on the shapeshifter project. You and you, shift to cloning. Everyone else, you're on the shapeshifter project."   
  
"Alright," said Althea to the special team of Misfits and X-men, "you're the best stealth members on the two teams. This is not an attack. You go in, gather data and get out. The plan is as follows." A diagram came up on a screen behind her.  
  
"Arcade and Shadowcat are going to parachute onto the roof. You'll make your way to the main computer terminals and gain access," said Scott. "Nightcrawler teleport Xi to near the labs, from where he'll conduct field surveillance."  
  
Avalanche and Toad watched in horror as Cobra Commander continued his message on his personal computer. "You have no idea how much I've looked forward to this G.I. Joe. Or perhaps it's you pesky Misfits. No matter. I  
"Toad and Avalanche have the most important job," said Althea "you'll have an encryption disk designed by Arcade. You need to get into Cobra Commander's private quarters, underground in a bunker incidentally, and access his personal video log. Avalanche will use his powers to tunnel in, and Toad will insert the encryption disk."  
  
"Also," finished Scott, "you'll be planting bugs wherever seems like a good place, especially, Mindbender's lab, Cobra Commander's private office, and his bedroom."  
  
"Remember," said Althea, "we know that Cobra's up to something big, but we don't know what."   
  
Senator Redfield opened the door to his suite. As he walked exhaustedly towards his bed, he tripped over a footstool.  
  
"Stupid maids," he grumbled, "always move everything around."  
  
He collapsed face first on the bed, which is how he didn't see the "footstool" reforming into a man with scythes for hands.  
  
There was a sickening thud, then silence.   
  
Arcade and Shadowcat landed lightly on the roof. Shadowcat touched Arcade on the back, and they both phased through the ceiling. They ran along the halls, which were strangely empty and entered the main computer terminal housing room.  
  
It was empty, but Arcade's goggles revealed motion sensors. He took a tool from a kit at his belt, and projected a false reading. He and Kitty hurried through to the other side.  
  
Arcade switched on the computer. A picture of Cobra Commander appeared.  
  
"Hello G.I. Joe. If you're seeing this message, it means that you fell into my trap."   
  
Xi and Nightcrawler froze outside the lab. "You see," continued Cobra Commander, whose voice was also coming over the loudspeakers "I knew you were coming. I won't bother to explain how, just in case you do survive. But this building is going into lockdown, and you just activated six tons of dynamite. If you are a high-ranking Cobra officer, you have thirty seconds to enter your code to deactivate the self-destruct. But I doubt that you are." Avalanche and Toad watched in horror as Cobra Commander's message appeared on his personal computer. "You have no idea how much I've looked forward to this G.I. Joe. Or perhaps you are some of those pesky Misfits that have been giving me so much grief. In twenty minutes there won't be enough of you left to tell. Oh in case you were thinking of teleporting or phasing out, if you X-men are there, the building's surrounded by a forcefield."   
Arcade snapped out of his trance and began to type furiously. The picture of Cobra Commander was replaced with a different one. "I'm so sorry. The code you entered was incorrect. That must mean that you don't work for Cobra. I suggest you abandon your futile attempts to stop the dynamite and resign yourself to your fate."  
  
Arcade typed faster. Shadowcat joined him at another computer. "If I destroy the computer will it help?" She asked.  
  
"Probably not," he answered, "and if it doesn't you will have destroyed our only chance to shut this thing down.   
  
Congressman Leman watched the woman laying facedown on his bed with anticipation. He stood over her, and began to unzip her dress. Her leg, out of his sight, shifted into a spike, and stabbed him through the leg. She whirled over, reverting as she went to protoplasmic form. Various weapons sprouted from the shapeshifters body, and it advanced on the horrified congressman.   
"We've got no choice!" said Avalanche, "Arcade and Kitty are probably trying to stop this thing on the computer, but if they can't we need a backup plan."  
  
"Tell me this, Lance," answered Toad, "how exactly are we going to find the dynamite?"  
  
"We might not be able to, but we have to at least try."  
  
"Alright, let's go."   
All hail Cobra, appeared on the screen. Arcade hit the enter key.  
  
"Try again," gloated Cobra Commander's recording. Arcade growled in frustration and typed in 1229425455656.  
  
"Try again,"  
  
Suddenly Arcade had an idea. "Of course, he wouldn't make that obvious. It would be something we'd least suspect."  
  
"What do you mean?" Asked Kitty.  
  
"I think I know what the code is."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Zero."  
  
"What?!"  
  
"He'd expect us to expect it would be a super complex string of numbers, or a word command. So it will be just the opposite." He typed in zero.  
  
"Damn." Said Cobra Commander. "You got it. Oh well, this game has only just begun. Goodbye, Misfits, for now."  
  
The screen went blank. The metal plating over the windows retracted. The doors opened.   
Senator Blackstone walked into his bathroom. Suddenly the towel hanging on the door grew a tentacle, which wrapped around his neck.  
  
He let out a gurgling, choking sound then there was a violent crack, and then silence.   
"I'm worried about what Cobra Commander meant, when he said the game has only just begun," admitted Scott.  
  
The X-men and Misfits were lounging around the X-mansion, going over the events of the recent mission.  
  
"Perhaps he meant nothing, and was counting on you to believe that he had meant something, thus making you worried and nervous, as well as edgy so that you end up chasing loose ends, and thus he would have time to plan something elaborate, which unlike this current threat, would actually mean something," replied Arcade.  
  
"I doubt it," replied Toad. "He went through a lot of trouble setting that up. He completely pulled out of the base, replaced every important computer system, installed a self-destruct, and recorded countless messages. Not to mention, he knew we were coming. He tried to bluff that he didn't, but he did. Otherwise he wouldn't have gone through all that trouble. So, if you want my guess, he wasn't bluffing."  
  
"You think there's a traitor in G.I. Joe?" Asked Althea.  
  
"Either that or he's found some way to bypass the bug screening process, which Arcade told us was foolproof."  
  
"It is foolproof," said Arcade defensively, "I designed it myself, unless he's got something microscopic, nothing could get through."  
  
"Then someone in G.I. Joe, or in the X-men is a traitor," said Althea.  
  
And on that ominous note I'll end this chapter. Let me know what you think. Positive remarks and suggestions are always welcome, as well as anything you didn't like, so I can fix it.  
  
Please keep flames to yourself, as simply telling me the fic is horrible will not help me do better in the future.  
  
Next, the traitor revealed, Cobra's infiltration of the U.S. government continues. Magneto and the Brotherhood get wind of Cobra planning something big, and the good guys gain an unexpected ally. (You'll be surprised if you never read the comics) Not to mention, I bring in a few little known comic book characters. (Hint, think Mapridoor)  
  
Until next time, to quote the great Stan Lee,   
Excelsior 


	2. As Some Questions are Answered

Here we are. Another episode of Rise of Cobra is up. Oh, and I apologize. I'm not going to be able to work the new ally into this chapter, but something in this chapter  
  
As Some Questions Are Answered...  
  
Magneto paced the corridors of his newest base, another Asteroid M, "one of our mutant officers in Cobra has sent us some vital information. That fool Cobra Commander is planning something big. We don't know anything specific, but it has to be big if he's keeping it this hush-hush."  
  
Pyro smiled, "so what exactly do you want us to do boss?"  
  
Magneto had assembled a group of Acolytes, "Your job is to destroy Mindbender's lab and set back his research as far as you possibly can. If possible you need to find out exactly what Cobra is up to."  
  
"Right boss," smirked Pyro, "burn the lab to the ground and interrogate the scientists. It'll be my pleasure."   
Althea signaled for Toad to move around the corner of the wall. He leapt out and surprised the man crouching on the ground. He had a small radio and was speaking quietly into it.  
  
"I think they're onto me. I have to sign off now," he said just before Toad jumped out. Toad kicked the radio from the man's hands and punched him. The man leapt up and drove his foot into Toad's stomach. Toad stumbled back and the man ran.  
  
Althea chased after him, "give it up Lee. We're onto you anyways!" With a flying tackle she brought him to the ground. He smashed his elbow into her chin, and flung her into a tree. Pietro ran up.  
  
"You OK?" He asked.  
  
"I'm fine. Get Lee," she answered.  
  
Lee was in the process of climbing up the wall of the base when Pietro caught up. He ran up the wall and knocked Lee down. Lee threw a smoke bomb and ran in the opposite direction. By the time the smoke cleared he was gone.   
Fred crossed his arms and planted himself squarely in front of the armory door. Before long Lee ran up.  
  
"I need to get in, General Hawk sent me. He said that its urgent, and I need to get some heavy artillery right away."  
  
"Yeah right," Fred snorted. "Tell me please, exactly how stupid do you think I am?"  
  
"Stupid enough to fall for the misdirection technique long enough for me to get to this," smirked Lee, and threw a bomb with knockout gas in it. By the time the smoke cleared Fred was unconscious on the ground. Lee stepped over him and quickly picked the lock to the armory door. It swung open and Lee switched on the light.  
  
Roadblock and Low Light leveled guns at him, "looks like the game's up," smirked Low Light. Lee turned to run. Standing in the doorway, also holding a gun was Shipwreck. Cover Girl was perched in the rafters with a sniper rifle.  
  
"So, why'd you sell us out?" asked Shipwreck, "mind control? Blackmail? Bribery?"  
  
"Actually," Lee answered calmly, "I was planning on selling you out the whole time. You see, my name's not Lieutenant Lee. My name is Darkshadow." He pulled off an intricate mask to reveal that he was speaking the truth.  
  
"But, that... that's impossible!" Said Shipwreck flabbergasted. "You're dead! I saw you go down with a crossbow bolt in your heart."  
  
"Actually you saw my body double go down. He was surgically altered to look exactly like me. I was still in the vessel. When you scouted the wreckage you weren't actually expecting to find anybody inside, and you were careless. It was child's play to avoid you and then hide outside. Since then I've been biding my time."  
  
"But the DNA scan of the body..."  
  
"I took the liberty of altering your records of my DNA while I was inside your base. It was the perfect back-up plan."  
  
"And I suppose you went crawling back to Cobra on your knees, begging for them to forgive you."  
  
"Actually, they have no idea that I am still alive. I contact them only as Lee. And now, if you'll excuse me, I have a pressing appointment." He grabbed Shipwreck and hurled him into Roadblock and Low Light. Then he grabbed Low Light and hurled him into the way of Cover Girl's bullet. He took off running.   
"For the last time, I'm fine!" snapped Low Light. "The bullet was mostly stopped by my bullet proof vest."  
  
"Mostly," repeated Bree, "but it went three centimeters into your shoulder and hit a tendon. You're lucky you can even move your arm."  
  
"Yes, but I can move it so will you just stop fussing over me like a mother hen?"  
  
"Fine, but don't lift anything heavy for a couple of weeks."  
  
"Weeks?! Is that how long it will take it to heal? There's no way I can stay out of action for that long. Not the way things are going down!"  
  
"I'm afraid that even with Lifeline's help, you'll have to rest it for at least ten days, or it might heal wrong."  
  
"Fine," growled Low Light, "I'll shoot with my other hand. But there's no way I can just sit out. Darkshadow's alive and kicking. We're going to need every bit of help we can possibly get."   
  
"So what's the big deal about this Darkshadow?" Asked Lance. He was doing stretches in the ninja dojo, while Althea and Toad worked out. Althea was holding a punching bag while Toad hit it.  
  
"I mean," continued Lance, "we've fought ninjas before, right? I mean Sergeant Slaughter and Snake Eyes demolished almost an army of them once right?"  
  
"The big deal is," Toad said, "that we never saw him coming. Not last time, not this time. Who's to say it will be different next time. He manipulated me! He made me hurt the Blind Master! I was helpless!" He leapt up and kicked the punching bag with both feet. Althea flew back and landed on a pile of work out mats. The punching bag snapped off the string had been hanging from and hit the far wall, exploding on contact.  
  
Toad ran over, "Al, are you all right?"  
  
"I'm fine. Thanks. But maybe you should consider getting Blob the immovable objects to hold the bag in the future. Lets move on to the throwing knives, shall we?"  
  
Lance was starting to do stretches, "so Darkshadow's smart," he said, "I've got that, but how good is he?"  
  
Althea started throwing the knives. Toad dodged them at first, and then kicked one out of the air, and finally caught the last two, twirled them around, and fired them bull's-eye into the target. Althea went over and tried to pull them out, but they were stuck. Finally she yanked them out, complete with the target. They left about an inch deep hole in the wall.  
  
"Trust me, he's good. As good as the Blind Master, maybe better."  
  
"You've got to be joking."  
  
"No joke," said Althea grimly. "He's good. Maybe the best."  
  
"So how did you beat him last time if he's good?" Asked Lance as Althea picked up a crossbow and loaded a bolt.  
  
"We didn't. That's the point. We beat his body double. Xi turned invisible and shot him with a crossbow," said Toad as Althea set an apple on her head.  
  
"Will that work again?"  
  
Althea fired the crossbow, Toad caught it out of the air, and threw it like a dart, slicing the apple cleanly in half, and burying the bolt in the wall, "I doubt it. He's not the type to let something like that happen more than once."  
  
He picked up two Bo staffs and handed one to Althea, "let's go outside for this one."  
  
All three went outside. Lance focused his powers, and created a circle of dirt raised up from the rest of the ground, and Althea and Toad faced off.  
  
As they were battling Lance asked, "so, is there any way to beat this guy?"  
  
"Yeah," said Toad, "a sword through the chest ought to do it. But I don't know if I'm ready to cross that line right now."  
  
He feinted, and then used a lightning fast move to knock the staff out of Althea's hands.  
  
"But if it comes down to me or him, I'm not going to let it be him." he used his Bo staff to trip Althea, "Lets just hope it doesn't," he helped Althea to her feet, then jumped out of the ring, and walked away.   
  
A guard walked to a door, and crouched down, letting a black pad scan his eye. Then he pressed his thumb up against the same pad. Finally, annunciating clearly he said, "clearance code Alpha Omega."  
  
The three feet thick door opened and he stepped through. Juggernaut was floating in a tank full of green liquid. The guard's hand turned into a sledgehammer and he smashed a hole in the tank. Juggernaut woke up, as the green liquid began to drain out, and smashed away the rest of the tank.  
  
"Who the hell are you?" He demanded of the guard, who had, in the short time it had taken Juggernaut to demolish the tank, changed into a person who looked like a respectable businessman, complete with briefcase.  
  
"I have been authorized to make you a once in a lifetime offer. Cobra wants you on board for their bid for world order. A helicopter will be landing in approximately five minutes. You'll need to have made your decision by then."  
  
"Is the pay good?"  
  
"If the plan succeeds, you will be given a small area of land, specifically, Mexico."  
  
"Mexico, huh? You can count me in."  
  
"My master will be pleased to hear that," the shapeshifter reverted to its original state, namely a pile of protoplasmic goop.  
  
"Hmm, that's weird," snorted Juggernaut, and strode into the small army of guards that was charging into the room, "Look's like it's time to go to work. Mexico. Hmm. Sounds good to me."  
  
Deeper and deeper into the mystery we delve. Darkshadow is alive? Cobra has shapeshifters? I would like reviews? Well, yeah, duh. 


	3. More Question Are Made Apparent

Things are deteriorating quickly. I don't have anything else to say right now.  
  
... More Questions Are Made Apparent  
  
In a small Cobra outpost, Cobra soldiers rushed to defend a hangar door. The head Cobra officer at the base, Destro, was barking out orders to various officers and soldiers.  
  
"You, you and you get the blast doors closed with the manual winch. You, take six men and get the auxiliary generator working. The rest of you get ready. When he comes through that door I want him dead!"  
  
The huge adamantium doors began to close, just as a glowing sword cut through the outer doors.  
  
"That ought to do it. There's no way he's coming through those doors," smirked Destro. Not five seconds later, the glowing sword was rammed through the blast doors.  
  
"That's not possible! Those are solid adamantium! It would take Magneto to get through!"  
  
"Maybe it is Magneto," said one of the soldiers nervously. By this time the sword had cut a man-sized hole in the door, and it was being yanked out. A man dressed entirely in silver armor, and wielding a glowing sword stepped through.  
  
"Magneto..." he snorted, "you should be so lucky," and then he was on them like a whirlwind. Before the first row even had time to fire he was among them. When they finally brought their weapons to bear, he leapt into the air and they ended up shooting each other.  
  
Destro turned and ran. He reached the elevator, and stuck his pass card in. The door slid slowly open. He turned, and looked over his shoulder. The man had finished off the soldiers and was stalking slowly towards him.  
  
Destro lunged into the elevator, and hit the button for the top floor. The door slid closed, and the elevator started up.  
  
A few seconds later, the man in the silver armor cut away the door. By the time he walked into the elevator shaft, it was empty. He dug his sword into the wall and began to work his way up.   
  
Destro ran out onto the roof of the building. Three soldiers were stationed up there.  
  
"Sir, what's going on?" One of them asked.  
  
"There's no time for me to explain. But there's a man following me up here. When he gets to the top of the elevator shaft, kill him."  
  
"Where are you going?"  
  
"I need to report this man, whoever he is, to Cobra Commander. I'll be taking the new hovercraft."  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
Destro climbed into the hovercraft, and took off. He pushed it to its speed limit, in order to get away as fast as possible.  
  
Behind him, on the roof, the man in the silver armor had finished off the guards, and was watching the rapidly shrinking speck that was the hovercraft off in the distance.  
  
"You have escaped this time, Destro," he said, "but you will not be so fortunate next time. I will avenge my village's destruction. This I swear. This I swear upon my honor as a samurai."   
  
Cobra Commander threw back his hooded head and laughed, "I love it! This is magnificent. We don't have half of Washington in our pocket, we are half of Washington!" Suddenly his mood changed.  
  
"But it's not enough! We have, for all our efforts, been unable to penetrate that pesky G.I. Joe! Well, it is time to begin another kind of campaign, then this prolonged infiltration. We have enough of the Jugglers. Let operation DP begin!"  
  
"I'm sorry sir, but we'd need someone in the actual attack, to keep the troops under control. We'd need a high ranking military officer to be specific," said one of his aides.  
  
"Hmm. What about that fool Whithalf?"  
  
"No, a shapeshifter wouldn't be able to duplicate his personality well. He's too erratic."  
  
"Hmm. The man who turned in that fool Bragg, find out everything about him. He should do nicely."  
  
"All right X-men. Spread out. I want you to search every cave, every nook and cranny on this cliff face. Find that disk," ordered Scott to the assembled team of X-men, and a few of the more advanced New Mutants. The New Mutants had been included because Xavier was considering which ones to move up to the regular X-men team.  
  
The X-men were in the Danger Room. Kurt teleported and Kitty phased down into the ground. The rest of the X-men began to climb down the cliff face. Suddenly, out of the sky, zoomed down one of the probes that Arcade had used when he had taken control of the mansion.  
  
Scott fired a blast at it, as the others scattered to find cover. It zoomed to avoid Scott's blast, and fired electricity bursts at him. He dove out of the way, but the last one hit his leg, instantly numbing it. As he attempted to drag himself away, it switched weapons to a buzz saw. Armara and Ray blasted at it with their powers, but it simply dodged them, and sent back stun bursts, which knocked them out. Bobby managed to freeze it in place long enough for Scott to drag himself behind a large cluster of rocks. Then it gave off an electric burst, which traveled along the stream of ice, and shocked Bobby. He screamed, and was thrown violently backwards into a huge boulder.  
  
Then it generated large amounts of heat, and melted the ice. It advanced on Scott again, and the buzz saw, which proved to be adamantium tipped, sliced through the rock. Scott ducked, and the saw flew over his head.  
  
"Jean, can you stop telekinetically, long enough for me to hit it with my eye blasts?" He yelled.  
  
I don't know. I can try. She said telepathically. Suddenly the device froze in midair. Jean had her hands to her head, and was obviously concentrating extremely hard.  
  
Scott lined his visor up with the drone and fired a beam of minimum range, and maximum intensity, straight into the center of it. The power source shorted out, and the drone dropped to the ground.  
  
Jean and Scott smiled at each other, just as at least forty more drones rose from all around the cliff face.  
  
Scott used his eye beams at maximum range, while Jean used her telekinesis to shut down their power cores. But eventually one drone hit Jean with a stun blast from behind, and two more used mechanical arms to hold Scott in place. The final remaining drone produced a buzz saw, and slowly advanced on Jean. Scott struggled, but was unable to either free himself from the robots holding on to him, or to shake his visor off.  
  
Finally he sighed. "Computer, end simulation."  
  
Nothing happened. "Computer, end simulation, override code one three five four two," he said with a little more urgency.  
  
"Override code not valid."  
  
"What?" Scott watched, horrified, as the drone that had the buzz saw slowly advanced on Jean.   
  
Kitty, Kurt, Roberto, and Tabitha were also having problems. A group of drones had cornered them in a cave in the cliff face. Furthermore, the simulation had created a rare element in the rock wall that prevented Kurt and Kitty from using their powers to escape. They were just barely able to keep the drones from advancing into the cave.  
  
"All right," said Kurt, "I have a plan. Tabitha, use your time bombs to block the entrance to the cave. Roberto, you need to make us a path through the rock wall with your strength."  
  
"Easy," said Tabby, and caused rocks to fall down and block the entrance. Roberto changed into his Sunspot form and smashed a hole in the ceiling.  
  
Before long, they were out of the area where Kurt and Kitty were unable to use their powers. Kurt grabbed Roberto's shoulders, and teleported, while Kitty took Tabby's hand and floated up towards the surface.   
They reached the surface just in time. Kitty grabbed Jean and phased her so that the buzz saw cut harmlessly through, and Kurt teleported Scott away from the drones that were holding him.  
  
Then Roberto and Tabby used their powers to destroy the remaining drones. Scott blasted a hole in the danger room door with his eyebeams.   
  
"Let me guess what you're thinking, who could have possibly sabotaged your precious danger room?" Laughed a figure in a dark room, watching the proceedings on a view screen. "Only someone with an intricate knowledge of your machinery, or complete domination of metal could have sabotaged your precious danger room X-men. Only someone like me, Polaris, daughter of the great Magneto, and the mistress of metal, who thanks to an inside source, has the right information on your technology! And I promise you this is only the beginning of your troubles with machines."   
  
Darkshadow watched the Misfits train. Beside him on the roof lay a dead Greenshirt, one of the troops assigned to G.I. Joe. The man's throat had been cut. The knife with which Darkshadow had killed him, was stuck it the man's chest, pinning a note in place. He waited until the Misfits had headed inside to shower, then silently dropped down, and propped the man against the door.  
  
Then he left, onto the roof, along the wall, over the watchtower, and into the surrounding swamp.   
  
Fred was the first to come out. He noticed the Greenshirt, and immediately called out, "guys, you better come here!"  
  
Toad came out next, and was shocked at the sight of the dead man. Then he saw the note. Leaning closely, he read out loud,  
  
"To the Misfits,  
  
This man is a warning to you of what will happen if you interfere in my business. My conflict is with Toad, and Toad alone. If you want to avoid a fate similar to this soldier, I suggest that you do not attempt to fight alongside Toad when he faces me.  
  
If you comply, you will be spared. I may even let Toad live.  
  
Think on it, very hard. Remember, next time, this could be you. It might happen while you're sleeping. I may track you down on your next mission. But you'll never see it coming until it's too late.  
  
Darkshadow."  
  
The other Misfits had come out while Toad was reading.  
  
"That guy must be insane if he thinks we're going to let Toad face him alone," snorted Lance, "we're with you all the way, buddy."  
  
"No," said Toad.  
  
"What do you mean no?" asked Pietro. "No one ever said it was your decision. We're your friends and we are going to stand by you. It doesn't matter against who, or what. We're by your side, and watching your back all the way."  
  
"Thanks, but still, no. If you try to help me with this fight, you'll get yourselves killed. He wants me. I'm not sure why, but he's not interested in any of you. I won't let you get hurt by trying to help me. I'm sorry, but I have to go this one alone."  
  
Lance drew Xi, Pietro, Wanda and Blob away, "three guesses why Destro wants Toad."  
  
"The destiny stone." Said Xi.  
  
"And we can't let him get it, or the world is in serious trouble," said Wanda.  
  
"So we have to stand by Toad, no matter what," finished Lance, "but for now let him think otherwise."  
  
They all nodded.  
  
"I don't like it, but it's your call." Said Pietro. The others nodded, except Althea.  
  
"I don't know about you, but I'm standing with Toad all the way on this one," she said.  
  
"Babe, I don't want to see you get hurt because of me. You know I couldn't take that."  
  
"And I don't want to see you get hurt because I stood by and did nothing."  
  
"I can handle myself, Al. Besides, your team leader, we'd be lost without you. Me, I'm just the guy with the long tongue and the slime. The team could go on without me."  
  
"But I couldn't. Toad I'm standing by you."  
  
"Al, you need to watch the babies. You know how ruthless Darkshadow is. He's not above taking Beaky or Claudius hostage," he wrapped his arms around her.  
  
"I love you Todd," she whispered.  
  
"I love you too babe, you know I do."  
  
"Then let me help you. Please, don't do this to me."  
  
"I have to. But I swear I'll survive. Just for you."  
  
"Promise me you'll walk away from this alive."  
  
"I promise you. Without me, who would you spy on the shower?"  
  
"And if that doesn't give you enough incentive to kick Darkshadow's butt, maybe this will." She kissed him.  
  
"OK, is anyone else embarrassed by this unbridled show of affection in front of us?" asked Pietro.  
  
The rest of the Misfits raised their hands, except for Xi.  
  
During all this, on a nearby rooftop, Darkshadow was watching the proceedings.  
  
"Perfect. You don't know it yet, Toad, but you are playing right into my hands."   
  
"I'm telling you we can't tell them now!" yelled Shipwreck.  
  
"If we don't, we'll tell them how?" Asked Roadblock.  
  
"He's right," said Lifeline. "With what's going on, they'll find out about it soon enough. Its better if we just tell them."  
  
"I'm worried about how they'll react though," said Cover Girl. "Lance and Wanda are just holding onto their powers. News like this might send them off the deep edge."  
  
"The longer we hold back from them, the angrier they'll be when they find out about it. More so because we've been lying to them." Said Psyche Out.  
  
"Well, what do you want us to do? Just walk into the living room and tell them?" Asked Shipwreck.  
  
"I'll start dropping hits, and changing the drift of my sessions with them to prepare them for something like this. That way, when they actually find out about it, it won't come as such a shock, and they'll be somewhat prepared. But we need to make it soon. Otherwise they're likely to think that we've been holding back information from them. And we want to avoid that happening."  
  
"I hope you know what you're doing," said Cover Girl, "because if you don't there's going to be big trouble here at the Pit."  
  
"I'm also worried about Low Light," said Roadblock, "It affecting him is not just a might."  
  
Well, this is interesting. Who is this strange swordsman? Why is he after Destro? What is operation DP? What is Darkshadow's plan? What is going on between the adults? Who is Polaris's source inside the mansion? Well if you read Mirrorverse you might be able to answer that last question, but as for the others, you can find out next time, as soon as I get at least one review. But for know suffice it to say that event have been set in motion here, that will have far reaching affects on this story. 


	4. A new lead

**I need to say two quick things; first, part of the AU here is that some of the characters joined the X-men or Misfits early on. Secondly, I'm sorry that I took so long to update. I had a start on this chapter but it mysteriously disappeared. But it's up now.  
  
A New Lead**  
  
"All right, Althea said you had a lead for us," said Scott, "So what is it? And it better be good. The last lead we had almost got us killed.  
  
Toad smiled, "We've positive I.D. on one of Extensive Enterprises not so legal operations. A drug supplier in New York City has been selling the type of drugs that only Extensive Enterprises can get their hands on. We're ready to go when you are."  
  
"We're going after criminals?" Asked Tabby.  
  
Kitty grinned, "It'll be just like old times."  
  
"Not quite," said Althea "In order to get the info we need, we're going to be using scare tactics. Here's the plan."   
  
Manuel closed the suitcase that contained what were left of the drugs he was supposed to be selling and scowled. He hadn't made anywhere near his quota today. The crime lieutenant was going to be mad at him.  
  
If you make it back that is. Manuel jumped.  
  
"Who's there?" He asked shakily, "Who said that?"  
  
Something moved in the shadows. Manuel spun around. There was a bamf, and a smell of sulfur and brimstone. Something huge moved in the shadows. Manuel drew a gun and fired three times directly at the source of the movement. There was a clinking sound then silence.  
  
Are you ready to see us face to face?  
  
"Who's talking? Where are you?" Kurt suddenly teleported directly in front of the man.  
  
"Right here," he said, and then grabbed him and teleported. Manuel passed out.  
  
When he woke up he was in an abandoned warehouse, tied to a chair. Lance and Toad stood in front of him. Lance was dressed in black leather. Toad was wearing his normal outfit.  
  
"All right, scum," said Lance, "I'll make this simple so you can understand it. You've been selling drugs supplied to you by Cobra. We want to know where you get them from."  
  
"I can't tell you, he'd kill me."  
  
Lance stepped forward, suddenly menacing, "what makes you so certain I won't?!" The ground shook violently.  
  
Toad stepped between them, "Take it easy Lance," he said soothingly, then turned to Manuel, "look buddy, this will be a lot easier on all of us if you cooperate."  
  
"Look at him!" Said Lance, "He won't talk on his own. But I can persuade him." He swung at him. Toad caught Lance by the wrist.  
  
"I need to talk to you Lance."  
  
They stepped outside the room, and burst out laughing. "Now, that was fun." Said Lance, "I've always wanted to be the bad cop."  
  
"You think he'll break?"  
  
"Hard to say. He didn't seem too nervous though."  
  
"I'll talk to him," Toad walked through the door back into the room where Manuel was tied to the chair. He picked up a glass of water.  
  
"Drink?"  
  
Manuel nodded, and Toad held the glass to his lips. "I'm sorry about my friend, he's crazy. I calmed him down some, but he's still angry. He's had some bad experiences with drugs. Listen, I can't protect you from him if you don't give us something to work with."  
  
"I'm not giving you anything." Said Manuel stubbornly.  
  
"Don't say that. He'll kill you. This one guy, he cut Lance across the face, Lance buried him alive."  
  
"I'm not telling you anything." Manuel 's voice was nervous, he wasn't sure of this at all.  
  
"Look, you tell me where you get the drugs, I'll cut you loose."  
  
"You don't mean that."  
  
"Fine, you don't want to talk, I can't make you. But watch out for Lance."  
  
Toad left. He walked into a room that had been made up with a couch, and several chairs.  
  
"We can get him to talk. But it's going to take a while. How are the other options coming?"  
  
Jean stood up, "His mind's too messed up for me to get much of anything out of him. My guess is he's been sampling his wares a bit too regularly. It will take at least another week for me to get the information we need."  
  
Arcade held up a vial. "In another three days I'll have the truth serum ready."  
  
"Not soon enough. I guess there's only one option left."   
  
Daria, Brittany, and Quinn smiled evilly as they walked out of the room where Manuel was tied up.  
  
"He'll talk." Said Daria, and they teleported.  
  
Lance walked in. Manuel was trembling, and there was a smell of perfume.  
  
"All right, I'll talk, just keep them away from me."  
  
"Good. Where do your drugs come from."  
  
"I don't know, all I know is a guy named Henri will call me, and give me a time and place to pick up the drugs. I'll give him most of the money I made, and he'll give me a fresh load."  
  
"Where do you pick up your next load?"  
  
"Corner of Twelfth and Fifth, at eleven."  
  
"Thanks." Lance focused his powers and the chair sank a few inches into the ground. The earth closed around Manuel's ankles.   
  
At six o' clock the Misfits and X-men left Manuel trapped in the warehouse. At ten o' clock they set up a stakeout on the corner of Twelfth and Fifth. At ten thirty a shadowy figure slipped into the warehouse.  
  
Manuel had succeeded in freeing his left foot from the ground, and was working on his right foot. The figure walked up in front of him. It was a tall, muscular man, with a skull emblem on his chest. The man drew a knife.  
  
There was a scream, then silence.   
  
At eleven Henri entered an alleyway just off the corner that was being staked out.  
  
Toad jogged past. He saw Henri and stopped, as if to rest. He pressed a button on his watch.  
  
Kurt teleported into the shadows of the alleyway. Althea, who had been behind a newspaper on a bench across the street stood up. Lance stopped his jeep, which he had been driving around the block, and he, Kitty, and Peter got out. Two thugs, working as hired muscle for Henri saw what was going on and closed in on their employer. As one of them leaned in to whisper into his ear, Kurt's tail flicked out form the shadows, grabbed the thug's ankle, and pulled him into the shadows. The other drew a gun and fired into the shadows, but Toad's tongue grabbed the gun, and the shot went straight up.  
  
Henri drew a gun of his own and aimed it at Toad. Althea knocked it out of his hands with a flying kick. Kurt teleported Blob behind Henry, and Blob grabbed Henri's arms, and shoved him into Lance's jeep. Lance, Kitty, and Peter got into the jeep, and it roared away. Toad dispatched the thug whose aim he had upset, then he Althea, and Blob used their watches to teleport.   
A short while later Toad grinned. "That was almost too easy. I guess the higher up we get, the easier they'll be to crack."  
  
"Looks like." Agreed Scott.  
  
A week later Toad was no longer grinning. "This isn't working. We're tearing through the drug industry like tissue paper, but we're getting nowhere."  
  
"I wouldn't quite say that." Said a figure from the shadows.  
  
Toad, Althea, and Lance whirled towards the source, instantly alert. A man in a red costume, with a double D on the chest was leaning against the wall. His mask had horns on it, making him resemble the usual idea of the devil.  
  
"You've been taking out pawns, but you've taken out just enough to worry the king. Be cautious of his rook. Or would they be a queen?"  
  
"What are you talking about?" asked Althea, "Who's the king? Why the getup?"  
  
"The black knight is following you." Said the man, then dove out the open window.  
  
Toad followed him, shouting out, "what are you, insane?" Toad stuck to the wall part way down, and saw the man swinging on some sort of cable that had attached to a lamppost.  
  
He climbed back up and through the window. "Does anybody have a clue what that was about?"  
  
Lance shrugged, "The guy likes chess."   
  
Wilson Fisk was speaking into a telephone, "yes, you're help was most instrumental in driving the Italians out of Hell's Kitchen. I have another job for you. A group of troublesome mutants is threatening my drug industry. I want you to eliminate them. Yes, yes, one million dollars, but I have to see their bodies."  
  
He hung up the phone and turned to his aide. "If this doesn't go as planned we're going to need a good court representative. Someone who's not seen as associated with this office. And someone with a moral code."  
  
"Wouldn't that make him difficult to bribe?" Asked his aide.  
  
Wilson Fisk smiled. "Exactly. That way they can't accuse us of manipulating the court."  
  
"I see," said his aide. "I have exactly the man you're looking for. Matt Murdock."  
  
"Murdock, hmm, that rings a bell. Well, in any case, put his number aside."  
  
"Yes sir."   
  
The man with the skull on his chest was leaning up against a wall. Henri ran out of the police station, firing his weapon behind him. The man with the skull on his chest drew a gun and fired. Henri collapsed.  
  
The man returned the gun to its holster, turned, and walked away. A police officer with a drawn gun rushed out, saw Henri's body and the man walking away and yelled out...  
  
"Stop or I'll shoot!"  
  
The man turned around, and drew his own gun.  
  
"Nice try buster, this is a police station. You can't take on the entire police force."  
  
"I'm not here to fight you. Even if you don't realize it, you and me, we're on the same side." He fired, hitting the barrel of the officer's gun perfectly. The gun shattered, and the man turned and ran.  
  
"Go after him!" Shouted the officer.  
  
Another officer ran out of the building, took in the scene, including the handle of the first officer's shattered gun, and said, "You go after him yourself, I don't got a death wish."  
  
**Well, the plot thickens. The kingpin's involved now, along with two costumed characters, (please tell me you know who they are!! They both have their own comics, and movies, and everything.) Plus the Kingpin's sent someone to deal with the X-men and Misfits. Tune in next time for the action packed continuation, I know, I know, its shameless advertising :) of Rise of Cobra.**


	5. Yet More Enemies

This chapter is going to contain quite a few comic book references, and there will be more as the story progresses, so if you don't read many comics, you may want to read the guide at the bottom of the chapter, which is my attempt to tell you who's who.

Yet More Enemies Elektra perched on a thirtieth story window ledge outside of a prominent office building. She thrust her foot through the window, setting off an alarm. The man at the desk stood up hurriedly, and ran for the door. Elektra swiftly drew a knife from holster at her side, and hurled it at the door, pinning it shut. The man tried to open it, and at the same time security tried to break it down.  
  
Elektra drew a second knife, held it in one hand and grabbed the man by his shirt collar with the other.  
  
"To be perfectly honest, I just want to get the job done, but my employer was very specific. He wants you to know why you're dying."   
"W-why?" Asked the man, who was beginning to tremble. 

"You double-crossed my employer Wilson Fisk, and tried to cut a plea bargain. Minimum sentence, in exchange for tons of dirt on Fisk's alleged activities as the Kingpin. Needless to say, my employer was less then pleased." Like lightning Elektra slid the knife into the man's chest, and through his ribcage, into his heart.  
  
The door burst open, and Elektra withdrew her knife from the man's chest, and hurled him into the crowd of security men that were running through the door. She dove out the window, caught a flagpole and swung onto a ledge. Suddenly her cell phone rang. She turned it on and said,

"Hello?"

"Elektra," came a voice from the other end.

"Hammerhead," answered Elektra.

"Kingpin wants a couple of people to disappear, without it being able to be traced back to him."

"Understood. Who does he want gone?"

"Two groups, known as the Misfits, and the X-men. They've been poking their noses where they don't belong, and the Kingpin wants that to stop, understand?"

"Perfectly. The usual fee?"

"Sounds good. I'll forward the specifics to your laptop. "

Hammerhead smirked to himself. He had successfully played Elektra. He had no doubt that she would do her job to the best of her ability, but fail to take out all of the targets. He had however marked Xavier and Jean Grey as priority bounties, which, he was certain, would prompt her to take them out first. With the telepaths gone it would be almost too easy to hire a few snipers to take out the remaining targets. He would be collecting quite a tidy award from the Kingpin for this, at a very low cost from himself. He loved being the middleman.

The Misfits were relaxing in their living room.

"Anybody have any idea what the nut in the red costume was talking about?"

"Chess, I guess," shrugged Lance. Suddenly he sank two his knees, clutching his head in agony. The ground began to shake violently. Pietro rushed towards Lance, but a wall of earth shot up directly in his path. Pietro hit the wall with a sickening thud, bounced off about six feet, and collapsed in a heap on the ground. Suddenly a tower of earth, with Lance on the top, rose through a hole in the ceiling that had previously been filled with a large chunk of plaster, and broke through a skylight.

Toad slung Pietro over his shoulders, and hopped outside. The others followed after him.

As they got out of the house practically the entire thing collapsed, leaving only the tower of earth and stone, still moving upward.

"What do you mean we have no planes?!!!" Shouted Althea, a few minutes later in Hawk's office. "We're a %&$# military base. How can we not have any planes?"

"First of all I'd appreciate it if you would watch your language," said Hawk, "and in answer to your question approximately three minutes ago, at the same time that Lance had his attack an explosion took out all of our hangars."

"Couldn't you borrow some planes from another military base?" Asked Lina.  
  
Hawk shook his head. "Believe me, I tried. But every military base within a hundred miles of here had their aircraft destroyed simultaneously, and at the same time as us.

"What about the spaceship?" Asked Althea.

"It's not destroyed, but the systems are completely fried," Replied Hawk. "whoever it was that did this planned it very carefully."

"I know who did it," said Toad, who had been staring out the window at the tower that stood where the Misfit's house used to be. Everyone turned to look at him, and he continued. "Darkshadow."

"Toad, we don't have any proof that it was Darkshadow," said Althea.

"Who else then?" Asked Toad, "Magneto wouldn't have used explosives, he would've used his powers. Cobra doesn't have this kind of finesse. In any case, it doesn't matter, I'm going up the tower."

Lina raised her hand, "Um, I could fly up there."

Hawk shook his head. "You don't have enough endurance yet. The same goes for Firestar. Pietro could probably run right up the tower wall but he's still in the infirmary. Toad's right. He's the best choice to go up. Besides, he knows more about Lance's attacks then either of you."

Toad walked to the door. "Then it's settled. I'll go right up. Try and get some sort of safety net set up, I don't think I'll be able to climb down carrying Lance."

Two hours later, Toad pulled himself onto the top of the tower. He had thought about what he might find up here, but it hadn't even entered his mind that it would be this. Darkshadow was standing over Lance's unconscious body, a sword in his hand. As he was about to bring it down into Lance's body, Toad leapt at him, and rammed his shoulder into Darkshadow's chest. Darkshadow skidded to a halt, inches from the edge of the tower. Toad slammed his elbow into Darkshadow's throat, and then threw a flurry of punches at him. Darkshadow's face became bloody, and finally Toad stopped. Then a helicopter, specially designed for stealth, came into view from where it had been hovering in the clouds. A figure appeared in the doorway, and suddenly Toad saw who it was. Darkshadow. Toad glanced in confusion at the unconscious body in front of him, and then looked back at Darkshadow, who was now readying a blowgun. A dart thudded into Toad's chest, and the helicopter flew off.

In something of a haze, Toad pitched the Darkshadow look alike off the tower to where it had been prearranged that the safety net would be. Then he slung Lance over one shoulder, and leapt off after him. About halfway down, he lost consciousness.

Some time later in the infirmary, Lance awoke. "What happened?" He asked, "And why am I still in my uniform?.

"Darkshadow gave you a drug to manipulate your attacks," said Lifeline, "Look out the window."

Lance did so, and saw the tower.

"Did I do that?" He asked.  
  
Lifeline nodded, "And your uniform, well every time I touched you, the ground shook. I think your subconscious jumped back in time, and was trying to protect you."  
  
"Geez," winced Lance. "Alright, what happened after that."

"You were on the tower, and Toad went up after you. After that it gets a little more confusing,""Try me," said Lance.  
  
"From what we put together, Toad fought one of Darkshadow's body doubles on top of the tower. Then someone, presumably the real Darkshadow, shot him some sort of dart. At first we thought it was a simple tranquilizer, but we've begun to suspect that it was far more."

"You're right," said Lance "It is confusing. What did he shoot Toad with?"

"Some sort of chemical, but heavily diluted. We've got Airtight and the triplets working on it, and we sent a copy of the readout to Beast and Xavier at the Institute."

"How long was I out?" Asked Lance.  
  
"About twenty hours after Toad got you down from the tower."

"Twenty hours? No wonder I feel so hungry."

Lifeline smiled and handed him a tray of food. Lance eagerly dug in. Then the door banged open. Scott staggered in, bearing Xavier over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. Beast came in through the door after him, carrying Jean in his arms. Scott had a gash on his forehead, and one of Jean's arms was hanging at a crooked angle. Several patches of Hank's fur had been blackened by flame.

Lifeline rushed instantly to them, and took Jean from Hank's arms. He placed her on one of the beds, and turned to Scott, who had just finished laying Xavier on another bed.

"What happened?" Asked Lifeline.

"We were flying here to give you the results from that readout you sent us." said Scott shakily, as Lifeline bandaged the gash on his head, "When I tried to activate the landing protocols, the fuel tank exploded."

"Sabotage," said Lance, sitting up.  
  
"Looks that way," Scott agreed.

"The question that remains to us is, who?" Mused Beast.

"Me," came a voice from the doorway.

There was a woman in a tight red outfit standing in the doorway. In each hand was a knife.

"The name's Elektra, not that it will matter much in a couple of seconds," she said, and threw the first knife at Scott who, recognizing the danger leapt out of the way. The knife missed his heart, and instead hit him in the arm.

Elektra kicked Lance in the chest, knocking him back on the bed. She plunged her second knife into his chest. Hank tackled her and pinned her to the ground. She kicked him in the stomach with both feet, and winded him. Scott put his hand to his visor, and blasted her through a wall.

She lay on the ground unconscious. Althea ran in. "I've got bad news. Darkshadow's double just committed suicide.," she stopped suddenly, viewing the destruction.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Assassin named Elektra." Said Scott.

Althea suddenly noticed Lance, with the knife still in his chest.

"Oh my god," she ran over to him. He slowly opened his eyes and grinned weakly."Why do you think they make us wear Kevlar in our uniforms?" He asked, jokingly, "So we don't get pneumonia?""So, what did Darkshadow inject me with?" asked Toad when he awoke the next day. Lifeline had just finished explaining the same events he had explained to Lance the day before.

"It's actually an energy drink, poisonous to mutants, known as Power 8."

"I remember that stuff. The X-geeks said it made Evan's powers go out of control."

"That's right. Fortunately this was heavily diluted with water, and a powerful sedative, so it hasn't fully begun to affect you, yet."

"How long?"

"We estimate about three days, if we can't come up with an antidote before that."

"Then what?"

"To begin with you're likely to lose control of your powers. Besides that I'd rather not dwell on."

"I understand," said Toad, "Am I going to be confined to the infirmary for those three days?"

"No, but stay away from anything that's likely to draw blood. We don't want to risk transmitting the substance."

"Got it, doc, nothing pointy. But there's one thing bothering me. Supposedly Spears destroyed all the Power 8. He even let Xavier supervise. So where did Darkshadow get a sample of it?"

Lifeline sighed. "Some of it must have survived. But in order to obtain a sample Darkshadow would have to have powerful friends."

Destro looked over the base he was commanding, and smiled. His suggestion to build a missile silo here in Antarctica was nothing short of genius. Genius furthermore, that Cobra Commander had actually agreed to. And the best part of all was that there was no way that his relentless pursuer; that man in the silver armor, could possible find him here. Or so he thought.

"Sir!" Said one of his lackeys running up to him, "we just lost contact with squad seven. They were supposed to be setting perimeter defenses, but they never reported in."

"Sir!" Yelled another lackey, "squad ten just got cut off in the middle of communication! Something must have gotten them."

"Sir! Squad four just reported seeing something that looked like a man on top of one of the ridges."

"Squad five's homing signal just cut out!"

Destro sank into his chair and hung his head. His underlings rushed about frantically. Then he stood up and ran to his private plane.

"Sir! Inner perimeter has been breached by unknown hostile or hostiles!" Destro activated the plane, and as he took off, looked at the carnage below. The same man in the silver armor that had been hunting him for a month now, was making mincemeat out of his troops.

The jet flew off.

Xavier was in his office when the phone rang. He picked it up. "Yes. I see. Yes, I understand. All right officer, my students and I will be right there."

He sent a mental broadcast to Scott. _Scott, please come to my office immediately._

A few minutes later Scott walked in and asked, "What is it Professor? Is something wrong?"

"That's one way to put it. The mayor decided that he was going to try and tax the Morlocks for the Alley."

"That closed minded idiot!" Said Scott outraged.

"It gets worse. The Morlocks sent the three officers that were sent down, back."

"That's a relief."

"Only two of them were alive."

"They killed him?"

"Yes. His arm was torn off. He bled to death."

"What do you want me to do?"

"We need to head down to the police station. The chief of police has requested our assistance.

"You can't ask Thornn and Ray to fight the Morlocks!"

"I'm not. Bring Jean, Kurt, and Rogue. Some of the Misfits will be there as well."

"The thing is Professor, I'm not so sure that the Morlocks have the wrong idea. We're going to attack them because the stood up that bigoted idiot the mayor? Something just doesn't seem right about that."

"There's no guarantee we're going to attack them. We're meeting to discuss possibilities for action."

"Still,"

"Scott, if we don't go then there's a large chance are that the police will go after the Morlocks. Then we'll have a full-blown war between the police and the Morlocks. I don't think that you want that, do you?"

"No Professor, I'll get the others."

"Good."

Wolverine walked through the woods without a sound, following the scent of a deer. Suddenly he heard a low growling sound. Turning, he saw a coyote, crouching, preparing to leap. Wolverine unsheathed his claws, and the coyote stalked away, its tail between its legs.

What Wolverine didn't know is that he was being watched. High in a tree a man crouched, shielding his eyes against the sun with a hand.

"It seems I have found a worthy adversary at last. You will be my next quarry. Wolverine, it is a fitting name for my prey. But first I must defeat my current foe."

He leapt to the next tree, and then the tree after that. Soon he had exited the forest.

**Uh oh. Things don't look good for our merry band of mutants (and humans). Enemies abound, the Morlocks are becoming more aggressive, and several members of both teams are injured. Now, as promised a guide to the comic characters I've adapted for Rise of Cobra. (Note, this only contains the major characters, smaller characters such as J. J. Jameson will not be included.)**

**Daredevil AKA Matt Murdock: Come on; tell me you didn't see this one coming. He's the guy in the red costume with the double d on his chest. Briefly, he was in an accident as a kid that left him blind but enhanced his other senses, including a radar like sense of sound. His father, a boxer, was killed by a crooked manager called the Fixer, when he refused to take a fall. Since then Daredevil has trained himself extensively in the martial arts and now fights crime. **

**Punisher AKA Frank Castle: He has a purple or black costume, varying, with a white skull on the chest. He was an ex-marine, on a picnic with a family, when they stumbled upon a gang hanging. The gang killed his family, but for a reason I have been unable to put my finger on, the Punisher survived. Since then he's been marked as an antihero, that is, he fights crime, but kills in the doing so. However he has always refused to fight the police, even when they try and bring him in. He first appeared fighting Spiderman (see below) and being manipulated by a villain called the Jackal. He is very good with guns, to the point that he even hit Spiderman in spite of his dodging.**

**Spider-Man AKA Peter Parker: He has not actually shown up yet, in my story, but he is set to make an appearance soon. Although I hope this is not strictly necessary, his costume is red and blue with a spider on the chest, and webbing designs all over. His powers were given to him by a (snicker) radioactive spider bite. At first he appeared as a celebrity, using his powers to bring himself fame and moderate fortune. Then when his Uncle Ben, who had raised him because of the deaths of his parents, was murdered by a thief that Peter Parker had not stopped when he had the chance, Peter took his uncle's motto, with great power there must also come great responsibility, to heart, and began fighting crime. He's appeared in Misfit stories before, but mostly as the MTV version. In my story, mostly because I know more about the comics, he is the comic version, only Evo.**

**Kingpin: Crime overlord in New York City. Controls huge amounts of crimes, and has a double life as Wilson Fisk, a respectable businessman. Has fought both Spiderman and Daredevil, and probably others.**

**Hammerhead: Crime, er under lord? It is a little confusing. He controls some crime, but is not as powerful as the Kingpin. Hence my casting him as the middleman.**

**Elektra: Assassin, once an item with Daredevil, now bitter enemies. She is very skilled in the martial arts, and uses three pronged knives as her weapons of choice.**

**Silver Samurai: He is both a samurai and a mutant. He where's silver armor and carries a sword. His power is to charge the sword so that it can cut through any substance, including, he claims, Adamantium. I had to fiddle a bit with his origins, but that's Evo or you. **

**Morlocks: The Morlocks are actually in Evo, so I won't go into their origins, but I included them because they might stay exactly the same as in Evo in my story. I try to keep their powers as close to the comics as possible though.**

**That's all for the moment, but there will probably be others as the story progresses. Just review and find out.**


	6. Forces Gather

Forces Gather 

"So what happened?" Scott asked one of the two surviving police officers who had gone into Morlock territory.

"Well, we were going down, as we were ordered, when we ran across a couple of Morlocks. They weren't real friendly which was understandable, and Jim, well he got right in their faces, called them slime, and filth. He said they'd better pay up if they knew what was good for them. Then one of them turned into some sort of dinosaur, and bit Jim's leg off."

Scott nodded, "And they let you and your partner go?"

The cop nodded, "The boss lady, you said her name was Callisto, right?"

"That's right. Callisto's the leader of the Morlocks. She was there?"

"Yeah. Her. She came up to us, and said, 'take him and go. And take this message with you. The Morlocks claim the sewers as their own. Any statics that come into our tunnels will be regarded as hostile invaders, and will be treated as such. No treaties will be accepted, and no quarter will be given. Now go. You have twenty minutes.' Or something like that."

"This is serious," said Lance, "The Morlocks have taken the sewers, and I have a feeling that the mayor is going to be pissed off."

"You bet I am!" Snapped the mayor. He turned to his secretary, "call the police chief, and tell him to get a swat team together. The Morlocks want a war, they've got one."

"Sir, I must protest," said Xavier, "By sending armed police into Morlock territory you're starting a war that no one will win.

"That's what you think," snarled the mayor, "or that's what you'd like me to think. But here's what I do think. Those mutie freaks will turn and run at the first sight of our guns."

"Retreat!" Yelled the leader of the swat team. What was left of the swat team fled the sewers, dragging and carrying several unconscious or wounded men with them."So the Morlocks decided to make a stand," said Toad. "I can't say that I blame them all that much. Have they made any demands?"

"Just that everybody and anybody stay out of the sewers," replied Althea who was briefing the Misfits on the current situation in Bayville. "But it gets worse."

"How much worse?" Asked Lance.

"Much worse. No less then twenty people currently staying in various hotels in Bayville are known members of FoH, and suspected militants."

"Can't Hawk just arrest them?" Asked Spyder.  
  
"First of all, there's not enough proof to justify arresting them," said Althea, "secondly, even if there was, it would be the Bayville Police Department that would go after them."

"And most of the Bayville Police aren't exactly friendly towards mutants, especially right now" said Toad, "Chances are they'd 'forget' to read them their rights, blunder through procedure, and they'd be back on the street within days."

"In other words," finished Althea, "our hands are tied. All we can do is watch them, and intercede if they try anything."

"Tell me that Hawk at least has people in the hotels," said Lance.

"Officially no," said Althea, "but several new janitors and maids have recently joined the staff of each of Bayville's hotels recently."

"That's a relief," said Blob. Everybody looked at him, "because, you know how dirty those hotel rooms get."

"How is my plan going?" Asked Cobra Commander."It goes well," said Destro, "The FoH cells the shape shifters infiltrated are in position. The sleeper cells need only to hear the ultra sonic vibration. All is ready, and awaits your command."

"Good. At midnight tonight we strike. I want you to personally supervise this one. As soon as it starts we'll drop you in by chopper."  
  
Destro gulped, thinking of the man in silver armor who had been stalking him.

"Is there a problem with that?" Asked Cobra Commander.

"No sir," said Destro. He somehow suspected that Cobra Commander would not be sympathetic to his plight. In fact he wouldn't put it past him to have hired the man to assassinate him, in which case, if he confronted him, Cobra Commander might well simply shoot him on the spot.

Zartan watched from a corner of the room and smiled to himself as he saw Cobra Commander ordering Destro to Bayville.

"Eight o' clock at night, and there's nothing on!" Growled Sabretooth, and threw the remote through the television screen. The Acolyte sitting next to him gave a splutter of protest, which was suddenly cut off. Sabretooth spun towards him, intending to terrify him so that he would never cross him again, when he saw a crossbow bolt sticking out of his neck. Sure enough, part of the window had been propped open. Sabretooth growled and leapt towards it. A large figure crashed through the glass, and barreled into Creed.

They struggled for a few moments, and then Creed was bodily hurled into the wall. The figure drew a crossbow and fired into Creed's neck. He reloaded the crossbow and fired again, this time into Creed's heart. Then he drew a knife and stuck in into Creed's stomach. Sabretooth sank to the ground and the figure smiled and walked away, saying, "As you die, know this. You served as prey for Kraven the hunter. In six hours another such as you shall do likewise." With that he was gone. Time passed. Then Sabretooth stirred. He moved his hand to his neck and yanked out the crossbow bolt. He also pulled out the other crossbow bolt, and the knife. When he was done healing he glanced at the clock. It read nine forty five. He grunted and spoke out loud.

"Not much time. This ought to be good. I'll just pick off whoever wins." He ran towards the jets."I've spoke to Xavier," said Hawk, "you'll be staying at the Institute for a while."

"How long?" Asked Toad.

"At least three days, after that we'll keep at least one person over there at all times."

"Are the FoH that dangerous?" Asked Lance.

"There's more danger than just the FoH," replied Hawk gravely, "Agent Faces, our infiltration expert, and Mathew Burke both confirm our suspicions. Something big is going down in the next few days, and it's going to be centered on Bayville."

Darkshadow held a device in his hand. It resembled a golden helmet. He smiled to himself as he envisioned his plan coming together.  
  
"Prepare the chopper, I'm going to Bayville. This little game ends tonight."

"Yes sir!" One of his flunkies ran to do his bidding.

Hammerhead scowled as he handed a check to the final man he had hired. Elektra had failed, and was now in the custody of G.I. Joe. He had been forced to take drastic measures to keep from failing the assignment that the Kingpin had given him. And if there was one thing he'd learned in all these years in the business, it was that you did not fail an assignment that someone like the Kingpin gave you. As a result he had been forced to improvise, hiring multiple thugs to go after the Misfits and X-men. He'd be lucky to make as much as two dollars profit at this point. Soon after the man left a red blur crashed through the window. It was a, man dressed in a red costume, with a double D on his chest.Hammerhead gulped. He had heard of this man. He was called Daredevil, the man without fear, a vigilante crime fighter. Hammerhead went for the gun he kept stashed under his desk. He was fast. The man in red was faster. He knocked Hammerhead's chair back, and jumped over it, landing behind Hammerhead and pressed a hidden button on his cane, splitting into two sections connected by a rope. He wrapped the rope around Hammerhead's neck.

"How can I hurt the Kingpin?" He asked.

"I-I don't know," stammered Hammerhead. Daredevil tightened the rope around his neck.

"Try again."

"He calls me on my cell phone, it's an untraceable line, I've never met with him face to face, I swear!" Daredevil pulled the rope tighter still.

"Then I have no use for you."

"Wait," choked Hammerhead, "I don't know how you can hurt him, but I know who might be able to tell you."

Daredevil loosened the rope slightly, and said, "Tell me."

"I hired a man called Electro, he's a thug for hire. He's supposed to take out a group called the Misfits. He's thinking they're going to be in Bayville tonight. He's taken some jobs directly from the Kingpin. He might be able to tell you how you can hurt him.

"Good. Thank you for your help." Hammerhead felt a blunt object strike the top of his head, and he collapsed."The so-called Friends of Humanity are amassing in Bayville," said Magneto. "I believe it is high time that they learned a lesson about why it is not wise to provoke mutants. Pyro, you will be leading the team. Pick ten mutants to go with you, and leave immediately.""Yes sir." Pyro saluted and ran off.The man in silver armor stepped out of the specially chartered plane. A few minutes later a suitcase with a parachute attached fell from the sky. It contained a single piece of paper with one word on it. Bayville.

The man in silver armor handed the pilot a thick wad of bills and set off running.

"What do you mean you've been selling information to someone trying to kill Destro?!" Shouted Zanya.

"It's a dangerous game, I know," said Zartan, "But one with far greater potential then you realize."

"And far greater risk then you seem to. If Cobra Commander finds out that we've compromised his missions, you won't be able to spend any of the money the Silver Samurai pays."

"But he won't find out. I've taken precautions. Not even the Silver Samurai, that's what he's calling himself by the way, knows where the information originates. And again you assume that the gain is entirely monetary. It's not. It's about power."

"Power?

"It's simple. Destro eventually runs out of luck. Cobra Commander is furious that someone's selling out Cobra officers. We plant some fake evidence and Cobra Commander finds out that it's the Baroness. He executes her. That leaves the immediate line of succession to the throne missing. At that point we find some way to get to Mindbender. Blackmail maybe. Or bribery. It doesn't matter. Mindbender creates some kind of mind control drug, which we use on Cobra Commander. With his two main officers missing, no one notices he's acting odd. And Cobra is ours."

"Impressive, but the Silver Samurai hasn't killed Destro yet.""No, but he will kill him in Bayville.""What makes you so sure?"

"Let me put it this way. The boys are going to be taking a little vacation to Bayville."

Zanya scowled, "I hope your confidence in this plan is not misplaced. For all of our sakes."The Kingpin spoke to the man known in the underworld of New York City as Mr. Big."I want them dead! They've stuck they're heads into my business ventures one to many times! Kill Xavier and the redhead first, but bring Toad, Cyclops, and Wolverine to me!Mr. Big nodded, a smile playing about his face at the thought of the Kingpin actually getting his hands dirty and killing the three he had mentioned himself. He nodded and left.Cobra Commander spoke into the videophone, "very well Cane, we have freed you from jail, and now it is time you repay your dept. I want you to destroy the Xavier Institute's top levels. Wreak as much havoc as you like in the basements, but I want you to specifically concentrate on destroying the above ground levels."

"I got it," said Juggernaut, "but what about Xavier."

"Kill him if possible, but try not to endanger yourself unduly. You may prove useful to us again in the future."

The Leader sat in his underground lair.

"I obviously cannot defeat the Hulk myself" he mused, "and the mutants who call themselves the Misfits have also proved ineffective,"

"Sir, may I suggest the X-men?" Asked Gargoyle.

"Quiet! I'm thinking! Of course! I'll use the X-men, but how to bring them into battle against the Hulk? Wait, Betsy Ross! Of course, I'll kidnap her and use her to lure the Hulk to Bayville."

**Does it ever seem to you that the entire world is lined up against our heroes? No? Well, let's recap. The Morlocks have seized the sewers, and the FoH is gathering in Bayville. That alone is an explosive situation. Throw in Cobra, Electro, Kaven, Creed, Mr. Big, (who won't be alone) the Silver Samurai, the Dreadknocks, Juggernaut, and Hulk, Daredevil, Darkshadow, and whoever else I decide to throw into the mix, and things don't look so good for our heroes. Next, the FoH attack, and Cobra makes their move.**


	7. Battle of Bayville Part one: Siege of th...

**OK here goes nothing.**

The Battle of Bayville Part One: The Siege of the Institute 

Toad perched on a car roof, watching a manhole. He was almost completely hidden in shadows, and to the casual passerby, he would have gone unnoticed.

There would be no casual passerby tonight. There was something in the air. The only people out tonight would be deadly serious. The key word would be deadly. Suddenly Toad glanced up the street, instantly alerted by the sound of a scuffle. Several men were dragging a scaly mutant down the street. In the next instant several things happened. One of the men hit the mutant in the head with a bottle. The mutant stumbled and fell. The men began kicking him.

Then the manhole cover flew up. Several dark figures leaped out. Before Toad's eyes they attacked the men beating the mutants using various powers. The men stumbled back, and one of them pulled out a portable radio. He hit a button on it, then turned and fled with the rest of them.

At the head of the alley he turned around and shouted back, "enjoy this victory mutants, it will be your last!"

Within minutes there was a gunshot on the far side of town. Toad hopped onto the wall, then crawled up onto the top of the building. He pulled out his com and flicked it on.

"Kurt, what's going on over there?"

"I'm not sure! Some guys in a jeep pulled up a few minutes ago, took the cover off a manhole, and started firing down into the sewers! Hold on, one of them just accidentally dropped a flashlight! It's pointing straight at me! They can see-"

The radio went dead. Toad glanced around to get his bearings, then hopped towards Kurt's location. As he landed on the building nearest Kurt's post, he saw him curled up in the shadow of a large ventilation duct.

He walked over to him, and saw that he was passed out, and had a bullet wound in the shoulder.

"Hold on Kurt," he grunted, and slung him over his shoulders.

As he started jumping from building to building, he heard someone shout from below, "Hey, there's one of those mutants now!"

"He's heading for that freak school!"

"Let him go, he won't get far!"

As Toad neared the Institute he saw what they had been talking about. A ring of FoH members had surrounded the gate and a large portion of the fence. As he hopped towards them, several turned to look at him. Then one of them raised a shotgun.

Kurt gave a low moan, and managed to teleport them both inside. Jean saw Toad stagger under the weight of Kurt's body, and levitated him.

"I'll take him," she said, "the Professor and Hawk are talking to everybody in the war room."

Toad nodded and hopped towards the stairs.

"The FoH have made themselves perfectly clear," said the Professor, as Toad walked in, "they want nothing more to kill every mutant in this building, as well as the Joes for what they see as 'species treachery'

"Rather then attack us head on, they seem to want to starve us to death. They have warned that any mutant who tries to exit the institute will be shot. They also claim to have placed a ring of iron spikes somewhere between themselves and the fence, and to have camouflaged it in the ground."

"Can't you just knock them out?" Asked Scott.

"Unfortunately, they appear to be being supplied with equipment by an organization called AIM. This includes psionic blocking devices, and a teleportation scrambler."

"But Kurt teleported us inside here," said Toad confusedly.

"Be that as it may, the Mass Device has been unable to teleport anything within a fifty foot range of the gates."

"Hey," said Toad, "where's Wolverine and X23?"

"They were also out watching the conflict between the FoH and Morlocks, and have not yet returned," Xavier said.

Wolverine sliced the barrel of a FoH member's gun, and then spun around to kick another one, who had been sneaking up behind him with a knife, in the chest. As he turned back to the first, a steam of bullets hit him in the chest. Wolverine kept moving, and sliced the third member's gun in half. Not far away, X23 was faring similarly. Suddenly Wolverine felt heat on his neck. He turned around just in time to see a man with a flamethrower squeeze his trigger. Wolverine sliced the fuel tank, letting the rest of the liquid spill out, and then threw the man into a wall. Nevertheless the continuous damage was starting to take its toll.

At that moment, he heard a discharge from a large projectile, followed by the sound of it whistling through the air. He ducked and rolled away, but the concussion wave from the rocket's blast still picked him up and flung him bodily at a wall. Through years of training, he managed to twist his body in the air, and land with his feet against the wall. A lesser man would have been killed. As it was, the impact knocked him unconscious, seconds before a second rocket caught X23 full on.

While Beast worked to revive Kurt, Forge was toiling away in his lab, trying to find a way to defeat the teleportation scrambler.

Meanwhile, Hawk, Xavier, Scott and Althea planned strategy.

"Our first problem is finding a way past the iron spikes," said Scott, "They have technology, which could effectively neutralize any of our powers that might help. The only one they couldn't neutralize is Blob, and he's still at the Pitt."

"He was going to come over here tonight," said Althea, "but obviously he can't now."

There was a shot, and far off, in the other wing of the mansion, the sound of glass breaking.

Althea and Scott jumped to their feet. Hawk did likewise. Scott paused at the door to turn to the professor, "sir, if they're actually attacking the Institute, the safest place for you would be the danger room,"

"I understand that, Scott. It's just, I'm not used to feeling so helpless."

"I understand, professor, it was the same way when Mystique kidnapped me. But there's nothing you can do."

"Actually, there is one thing. Scott, I need you for this. After Mystique activated the mansions self-destruct, I included a failsafe in Cerebro. In order to activate DEFCON Four, it requires both of our identifications simultaneously."

Scott nodded, "will it still attack the students?"

"No, I programmed it with their DNA, as well as the Misfits and the Joes. Hurry, Scott, there may not be much time."

Althea rushed into the room, with the broken window, and found Lance lying on the floor, in a pool of blood.

Her eyes widened, and she yelled, "Hawk!"

Hawk ran in, and quickly studied the situation. He lifted Lance in his arms, and ran towards the infirmary. Hank, having heard the glass shatter and Althea's yelling, met him halfway there, and took Lance from his arms.

"I'll take him," he said, and bounded off towards the infirmary. At that moment, the mansion went into lockdown. Metal plates slid down in front of all of the windows and doors, and the turrets emerged from their customary places. Across the mansion, everyone froze, their eyes on the turrets.

_Do not be alarmed, _said Xavier telepathically, _they will not harm you, and in any case they are set to deliver an electric shock, that while it should induce unconsciousness, it is not fatal_. Across the mansion, a collective sigh of relief was let out.

Down in the infirmary, Kitty was standing by Lance, who had had a bullet removed from his back, and was now bandaged and laying in bed.

He opened his eyes. "Kitty? What happened?"

"Someone must have taken a shot at you," she said.

Lance nodded slowly. "All right, I guess that makes sense."

"You don't sound sure," said Kitty, with a puzzled expression on her face.

"Kitty, was there any glass laying on the floor?"

"I don't know. Hawk and Althea found you."

"Ask them for me."

"Lance, is everything ok?"

"I'm not sure, but I know this. I was facing the window, but I took a shot to the back. Ask them."

Kitty nodded, and left the infirmary, thinking over what Lance had said.

Logan awoke strapped to a table. Surprisingly enough he wasn't wearing a restraining collar. Also, the straps holding him to the table appeared to be made of nothing stronger than titanium. If he could just get his claws in the right position… but he couldn't. And once he realized that, it no longer seemed foolish, but, on the contrary, a stroke of genius. Adamantium was, expensive to obtain, to say the least. When he thought about it, it seemed almost obvious to simply put him in a position where his claws weren't a threat.

At that moment he realized that he was moving. Or, more accurately, he was in a moving vehicle. A plane, or other air vehicle, by the feel of it. He glanced around the room, taking stock of his surroundings. The room was sparse, and aside from the table he was strapped to, contained only a large crate, of some kind of unidentifiable metal. Or at least, he thought that was all that was there. He couldn't tell, as the strap around his neck prevented him from looking at the entire room. At that moment, a man, wearing Kevlar, and seeming rather nervous entered the room.

"Kevlar?" Scoffed Wolverine, "when I get out of here Kevlar isn't going to stop me."

"Shut up," said the man, and hit him in the chest with a small device. The device sent a tremendous amount of energy through him. Wolverine smelt the flesh burning. But this had told him more about his captors then the man could knew. He had said 'shut up' not adding freak, or mutie. That would indicate that his captors weren't mutant haters. Which meant they wanted him for something else. Wolverine gritted his teeth. They more then likely wanted him as a soldier. Or more accurately, a weapon. He remembered Rina fighting beside him. The only way she would have let him be taken was if she was completely immobile. That meant that she had also probably been captured. But she hadn't been put in the same cell as him. Whoever it was that had them, obviously not the FoH at this point, was smarter then that. They also had to have considerable resources, in order to transport them like this.

That meant that they were less likely to make any obvious mistakes, like leaving the key in the same room as him, or sending someone who could be easily intimidated to this room. No matter, there was always a flaw; it would just be slightly harder to find it. He turned his attention back to the man.

"Who are you guys anyways?"

"Nice try, Weapon X," said the man, and left.

'Weapon X' mused Wolverine, "Not anymore, bub, not anymore."

"Come to think of it," said Althea, "I don't remember that there was any glass. I can't be sure. I was mainly paying attention to Lance, but I don't think that there was any glass on the floor. Which would mean," Althea paused, "that he was shot from inside the mansion."

Kitty nodded slowly, "Lance seems to think that that's the case. He asked me to ask you."

"Third floor, west wing, room 399," said Althea.

"What?"

"That's the room he was in."

Kitty nodded and left the room.

Rina was in a room almost identical to that which contained Logan. The only noteworthy difference was that the table she was strapped to also put her in a position where the claws, which emerged from her feet, were useless.

Rina, however, had not yet talked to any of her captors.

Wolverine had found the weakness. The metal band shackling his right wrist to the table gave him a tiny amount of slack. This was because one of the screws holding it in was loose. It was barely noticeable, but years of subconscious training had allowed him to identify the weakness. Now he had set about attempting to exploit it.

He had been systematically banging the manacle in a somewhat circular motion, which was slowly undoing the screw.

One of his captors walked into the room, and Wolverine immediately stopped the motion. Wolverine had memorized the guards' schedule, and was starting to tell time from it. So far he had been working for two hours. There was no telling what had occurred in Bayville during that time. The guard left, and Wolverine resumed his systematic banging.

Lance was able to move about now, and had even climbed the ladder into the attic. There he watched from a high window as the FoH continued to swarm outside the Institute's gates. He clenched his fists in anger, and sent a massive tremor out. It left the gates untouched, but knocked many of the FoH members about like so many bowling pins. Exerting the much control and power however, took its toll on his body, which was already weakened from loss of blood. He clutched his head in agony, and passed out.

Hawk saw the results of Lance's attack and sprang into action, "This is our chance! Husk, Colossus, get out there and find the spikes in one of your invulnerable forms. Pietro, once they destroy part of the spikes get Bedlam close enough to destroy their electronics. Once they're done, the rest of us will mop up! Go!"

Husk and Colossus, both in they're metal forms, charged out. The bullets, that the few FoH members who had managed to back on their feet fired, merely bounced off. Both of them felt the iron spikes crumple beneath their feet, and then they were through. There was a green blur, and suddenly the machinery started explosion. One of the FoH members had managed to get an electricity cannon on its feet. Suddenly it exploded. He dove back, and hit his head on a rock. While Peter toppled various machines, Husk had begun to pull the iron spikes up from the ground.

Pietro was in the process of coming around for his fifth round of the mansion, when he ran into a fish line to FoH members had stretched out. He managed to twist in midair, so that Bedlam came down on his chest. A FoH member hit Bedlam in the back of the head with a baseball bat.

From there, the battle went downhill. Without Bedlam destroying their equipment, the FoH was able to mount another electricity cannon. The first shot knocked Peter out. Husk picked him up, and changing into her stone form, ran back into the house. When she returned, a gas grenade was launched at her. Stumbling and choking, she barely made it back into the house.

In a short time, the X-men, Misfits, and Joes were forced back into the mansion, with the exception of Low Light, who was changing forms to quickly for the FoH to mount any kind of organized attack on him. He would destroy a cannon in his metal form, and as another energy cannon was lowered to point at him, he would change into his stone form. If they launched a gas grenade, he would change into an energy form. But he was slowly tiring from the endless exertion.

Logan had one hand free! He sliced through the table beneath him, and managed to slice through the other manacle. From there he easily cut through the other restraints that held him, and stood up. At that moment the guard entered. Wolverine moved like lightning, knocking the wind out of the guard, wrapping an arm around his neck, and extending one claw to the point where it pressed up against the guard's temple.

"I'm going to ask this once, and once only. Where are we?"

"C-circling above the Institute."

"What height?"

"Fifty-thousand feet."

Wolverine nodded grimly.

"Where's Rina?"

"Rina?"

"The other mutant you captured. Where?" His claws extended a few millimeters further, piercing the man's skin.

"Straight across the corridor."

"Good," Wolverine struggled with himself for a moment, and then muttered, "You're lucky, punk. I've been with Chuck too long." He struck the man in the temple with his fist, knocking him unconscious.

He dashed across the hall, and cut X23's chains. She nodded, and opened the door. Knocking out the guard who had come to check on her, she ran towards the hatch, followed by Wolverine. There was a single parachute.

"You take it," said Wolverine, and dived out of the plane. X23 strapped the parachute to her back and jumped out after him.

Scott had Pietro slung over his shoulder, and was firing optic blasts at the advancing FoH members. He slowly backed towards the Institute doors. However, several FoH members circled around behind him. He was trapped.

At that moment, Wolverine hit the ground. He growled, standing up, bleeding severely from the impact. He growled again, and kicked one the FoH members in the chest. After that he was a blur of motion, utilizing every ounce of his considerable martial arts skill. Within moments, the way to the Institute was clear. Wolverine unsheathed his claws and dove into the midst of a group of FoH members who were coming to reinforce their fallen comrades. Wolverine moved faster then Scott could keep track of, inflicting none fatal wounds with his claws, slicing weapons into ribbons, and generally scattering the FoH members who had surrounded him. Then he started destroying the large machines. One FoH member stood behind him, pumping bullets into his back, as Wolverine hacked away at the machine that was blocking teleportation signals. It exploded, and Wolverine sprang away. Then X23 landed, having deployed her parachute at the last possible moment. She joined Wolverine, as he toppled the supports of another large machine. Suddenly the energy weapons the FoH were using powered down, leaving them with projectiles only. Taking this as their cue, Low Light and Husk turned into their metal forms, and began providing cover for Wolverine, and X23. In a matter of moments, the FoH had been driven away from the Institute, and back into the town.

Wolverine watched them go, and as he picked a piece of gravel out of his arm, he growled, "don't break out the champagne yet kids, we ain't won. They're not gonna rest till both us, and the Morlocks are dead. They'll take this to the streets, to the sewers, to the woods. Chuck, can you track them?"

"Since you appear to have destroyed the psionic blockers, yes, I should be able to."

"Good. Let's go, One Eye, Red, Half-Pint. When the blue elf gets back on his feet send him to find us,"

He strode off. Suddenly there was the sound of helicopter rotors. Wolverine glanced up, and saw a helicopter flying the Cobra flag. There were three others coming in quickly. Within moments the sky above Bayville was almost black. The helicopters started dropping troops.

"Well, this just got a lot more interesting," said Wolverine.

**Well the siege is broken, but the FoH is still in Bayville. And now Cobra's here. Hoo boy. Well review soon to get the next chapter, (Darkshadow, Daredevil, Kingpin's men, and several others)**


	8. Battle of Bayville Part two: In the Str...

OK, my computer is again being evil and decided to delete my first attempt to write this chapter. Hence the delay. Translations of Pietro talking at superspeed will be provided at the end.

In the Streets, In the Woods 

Logan moved down the alleyway, unsheathing his claws as the scent grew stronger. Somewhere in the shadows behind him X23 was guarding against ambushes. He had been tracking the group of FoH members since one in the morning. And now he was almost sure that he was closing in.

Then he smelt the blood. He rounded the final corner, and saw corpses strewn across the area. Almost all seemed to have died from stab wounds. One was still pinned to a wall by a spear. Logan examined the insignia on this last's uniform. "Cobra," he grunted, "things just got a hell of a lot more complicated."

"You have no idea," said a voice from behind him. Logan spun and unsheathed his claws. His eyes darted from the newcomer, who seemed to be dressed entirely in the skins of various animals, and who was holding a bloodstained club, to X23 who was lying unconscious on the ground. He shifted into a fighting stance.

"I believe in my prey knowing who hunted them," said the man, "I am Kraven, the Hunter."

Kraven hurled the club, and in the split second that it took Wolverine to dodge it, he drew a crossbow, fitted a bolt on it, and shot Wolverine in the throat. Wolverine merely grunted and pulled it back out. By this time Kraven had knocked another bolt on his crossbow, and was aiming it directly at Wolverine's eye. Instinct took over, and Wolverine ducked under the shot, and kicked the crossbow from Kraven's hands. Kraven jerked back, and drew a long hunting knife. Wolverine shifted his stance, and waited.

Althea kicked an FoH member in the chest. Thanks to Storm, rain was falling heavily, and she was able to use it to keep most of the FoH members at bay. She spun as another FoH member slipped through her guard, and responded by kicking him in the chest.

The rain started falling even more heavily. Distantly, Althea was aware of a fire in the distance, but consciously she was concentrating on the fight. Using the increased rain, she created a barrier of roaring, swirling water between her and the FoH members. There was some muttering among them, presumably as they argued over whom was to try and breach it.

Then there were shouts. The water was so loud, Althea couldn't make out what they were saying, but there was an unmistakable tinge of alarm in their voices. Suddenly there was gunfire, more shouting, a scream, and then silence. Althea calmed the water to the point where she could see through it.

Darkshadow stood over the body of several dead FoH members. She heard footsteps as others rapidly retreat. Althea reformed the water into bullets and sent them at Darkshadow. Darkshadow merely rolled out of the way, and before she could send them at him again, he threw some sort of powder into her eyes. Althea was blinded, and resorted immediately to the ear that sees technique. Darkshadow however wasn't moving. She listened for even the slight sound of him breathing and suddenly realized that he was directly in front of her. Before she could react, he struck her in the stomach, winding her. Then he kicked her in the throat. Choking, she stumbled back. He struck her in the forehead, and then wrapped an arm around her neck.

As her air supply was cut off, she sank into unconsciousness.

"Why is Cobra here?" Scott shouted as he blasted several Cobra members into a wall.

"Why are you asking me?" Shouted back Kurt as he teleported several citizens to safety.

"I don't know, it's just, everybody seems to have picked today to invade Bayville!"

"Funny ain't it?" Asked the Juggernaut. Scott spun around. Cain Marko had approached with seemingly impossible silence, for someone so huge. With one hand, Juggernaut swatted Cyclops aside like a fly, and continued on towards the Institute.

Pietro ran into the mansion at superspeed, holding an unconscious Scott.

"Badnews," he said, his nervousness plainly evident through the speed of his speech. "IfoundhimlyinginaholeinthewallquiteliterallyhekeepsmutteringsomethingabouttheJuggeranut"

"The Juggernaut," said Hawk in disbelief, "what the hell is he doing here?"

"Idon'tknowijusttoldyouwhathesaididon'tknowwhatheistalkingabout"

"Pietro, I want you to get Scott to the infirmary, and then go prep the X-jet. We need to get Xavier out of here."

"Too late!" Roared Juggernaut as he strode through the wall.

"Damn it!" Swore Hawk, "Pietro get Scott out here now!"

Pietro ran out of the room at superspeed, and Hawk picked up his machine gun off of the table.

"Yeah," snorted Juggernaut, "like that's going to work."

Hawk lowered the machine gun and fired. Juggernaut simply strode up to him, the bullets bouncing off his invulnerable form as he did so, and threw Hawk through a wall. At that moment Pietro ran into the room, and before Juggernaut could react, undid the first of three bolts on his helmet. Juggernaut swung at Pietro, but Pietro darted away, only to run back and undo the second bolt.

This time however, Juggernaut caught Pietro's arm, broke it, and hurled Pietro through the window onto the lawn.

Juggernaut turned and strode towards the elevator that led to the subbasement. Before he had gotten even halfway there however, Rogue flew out of the elevator, seized a small table, and threw it at him. It shattered against his chest, and he briefly stooped to pick up one of the table's legs, which had remained relatively intact. Then he charged at Rogue, and swung the table leg, catching her in the side of the head. The impact shattered the table leg, and knocked Rogue through the wall into the kitchen

He strode through the remnants of the wall, grabbed Rogue's head, and slammed her through the kitchen table. Rogue slowly climbed to her feet, only to have Juggernaut grab her again, this time by the neck, and slam her head against the fridge.

He dropped her and said, "You're lucky I'm in a hurry, or I'd finish you off." With that he turned and walked into the elevator"

As the elevator descended, Xi dropped from the roof onto the Juggernaut's head, and with amazing precision, undid the final bolt. But before he could remove the helmet, Juggernaut caught hold of him, and smashed him up against the wall. Several of Xi's ribs cracked, and he slumped to the floor, becoming visible again. Juggernaut snorted with contempt, and stepped out of the elevator, into the subbasement.

He made his way, as per instructions, directly to Cerebro. He picked up the delicate headset, and crushed it, then through the remains into the screen. He then picked up the largest part of it, and hurled it up against the wall. It shattered, and he strode through the wall into the Danger Room control section. He hurled one of the consoles through the window, and then proceeded to tear the rest of the consoles apart with his bare hands.

Then he strode into Forge's lab. Immediately, several lasers fired at him. Juggernaut spun one laser around, and destroyed most of the equipment in the room with it, including the other lasers. Then he ripped it out of the wall socket, and hurled it into another computer.

Lina dropped from the ceiling, where she had been hovering, and tore Juggernaut's helmet off. He grabbed her throat and snarled.

"That does it. I'm going to-" he never finished the sentence. He toppled forward, dropping Lina. Standing behind him in the doorway were three men in odd helmets. One of them held something that looked loosely like a gun.

As soon as Lina had been dropped, she had instinctively covered herself with her wings. Amazingly, the men didn't seem to notice her.

"Get his helmet," said the one holding the gun, and who appeared to be in charge, "Then meet with the team that raided the Infirmary. Not much of use here.

"T-that's the Juggernaut," stammered one of the men.

"And you're damn lucky the mental destabilizer worked, or you'd be dead right now," snapped the leader, "now get the helmet."

"I don't think so, mates," came a voice, "I don't know what you're doing here, but I've got me orders." Lina realized it was Pyro, as he began mimicking Magneto, "'and when you're done with the FoH, eliminate any members of the group called AIM' and from your helmets mates, that would be you."

"Look, maybe we could work out a deal. We know that you're loyalty to Magneto is shaky at best. After all when Apocalypse supposedly killed him, you went out for a night on the town."

"Aye; and your point is?"

"We'll pay you considerably, and supply you with a serum that will give you complete control of your powers."

"I've already got enough control to fry you three."

"Yes, but you need to use your flamethrowers to maintain a constant source of flame. We can fix that. Using the serum, you could turn a candle flame into an inferno."

"Sounds appealing. When do we leave?"

"As soon as we've made a quick stop at the Infirmary to pick up a couple of test subjects."

"You've got yourself a deal."

As soon as the men were out of sight, Lina ran to the elevator, and realizing that in his fight with Xi, it had been wrecked beyond immediate repair, began climbing up a large access ladder.

Blob knocked the infirmary door off its hinges, but found the Infirmary empty, except for an unconscious Beast.

Beast awoke groggily. "They tranquilized the others and me. Then they started to clear out the equipment."

"Let's tally the total damage," said Hawk sometime later. His left arm was in a sling, and he walked with crutches. "The Institute's defenses have been completely pulverized. Pietro, Rogue, Xi, and I are badly injured. Lance and Scott have been kidnapped by an organization known as AIM, present location unknown. Wolverine and X23 failed to check in, current location also unknown. Althea also failed to check in. Again; current location unknown. Half of Bayville has been completely demolished. There are still Cobra cells scattered throughout the town. Likewise for FoH cells. Have I missed anything?"

"AIM also cleared out all of my more advanced medical equipment, and drugs," said Beast, "however; we have discovered a new ability of Lina's. When she senses danger, her wings apparently refract light in such a way as to give rudimentary camouflage."

"And you can solve the mystery of me and X23," grunted Logan, striding into the War Room with Kraven slung over his shoulders, "Some maniac hunter, figured I was the next big game. X23's on her way."

Then the wall carved away. Standing there was a man in a green suit, with small lightning bolts all over it.

"You've got to be kidding," scoffed Toad.

"Silence, and prepare to die. I am Electro!"

**Well that does it for this chapter. Remember, the more reviews I get, the better motivated I am to write quickly. (That was a not-so-subtle hint)**

I found him lying in a hole in the wall quite literally he keeps muttering something about the Juggernaut.

I don't know I just told you what he said I don't know what he is talking about.


	9. Battle of Bayville Part Three

**I'm using the Enforcers as they were depicted in Ultimate Spiderman, as I don't know too much about their original selves.**

**The Battle of Bayville Part Three: New Allies, New Enemies**

"We know who you are, remember?" Said Toad, "We fought you in New York City?"

"This time, the fight will kill you," sneered Electro, and hurled a bolt of electricity at him. Toad dodged out of the way, and Ray fired a blast of electricity back at Electro. Electro scoffed, and simply turned the bolt on Peter. Peter yelled in agony as the electricity coursed through his metal body.

"Is that the best you can do?" Sneered Electro, "You were tougher the last time we fought." He turned his electricity on Logan. Logan, despite the agony of having the electricity course through his adamantium bones, stood his ground, and actually advanced slowly towards Electro. Realizing the danger, Electro turned his bolts on the Professor, forcing Wolverine to leap away from Electro, and push Charles out of the way.

Then Hank's foot connected solidly with Electro's jaw, and Electro sank to the ground.

"That's one problem taken care of," said Beast.

"And one more fighter unable to fight," said Hawk, "At this rate all of us will be missing or incapacitated by the time this fight is over.

Meanwhile, on a hill overlooking the Institute…

"Pretty impressive," muttered a man wearing a cowboy hat and carrying a whip.

"You losing your nerve Montana?"

"Shut your mouth Ox," snapped Montana, "Fancy Dan, you got a bead on the telepath?"

"I can take him out now."

"I wouldn't advise it." All three spun around to see a man dressed entirely in red, with two intersecting D's on his chest. He was wearing a mask, topped with small horns.

"Daredevil," sneered Ox, "You stepped off your turf. Big mistake." He swung at Daredevil. Daredevil neatly sidestepped the attack, and hit Fancy Dan's knuckles with his billy club. Dan swore and dropped the gun. He quickly brought the gun in his other hand to bear on Daredevil. At the same time Montana curled his whip around Daredevil's neck, and yanked sharply.

Mentally cursing himself for not paying enough attention to Montana, Daredevil brought a hand up, and yanked on the whip, sending Montana flying into Dan.

Then he whirled out of the way as Ox tried to hit him again. Daredevil kicked Ox in the chest. Ox stumbled back, but only a few steps. Then he came at Daredevil again.

This time Daredevil kicked him in the stomach, and at the same time slammed his billy club into Ox's forehead. Ox stumbled back again, and this time Daredevil didn't give him time to recover, but instead, kicked him in the neck, finally felling him.

Fancy Dan had recovered his guns, and started shooting. Daredevil rolled out of the way, and kicked Dan's feet out from underneath him. Then he punched him in the jaw, laying him out flat.

Montana tried to attack him again, but this time, Daredevil caught the whip, and yanked it forwards, pulling Montana with it, and bringing him within range of Daredevil's fists. A few seconds later Montana fell. By that time, Toad and Roberto had mounted the hill.

"Who _are_ you?" Asked Toad.

"A friend," said Daredevil, "watch your back. Kingpin's upping the ante. Elektra was sprung from prison this morning. There's an Irish hitman named Bullseye flying into the country, and suddenly the Rhino's stopped making waves." And with that he leapt backwards off the summit of the hill, and was gone.

"Althea," whispered Toad. Without another word he ran towards downtown Bayville.

Althea awoke. She tried to open her eyelids, but found herself unable. Then she tried to move her arms, again, unable. Besides breathing, and other such movements, she was completely unable to move.

"Open your eyes," commanded Darkshadow, from somewhere to her left. This time, despite her best efforts to keep them closed, in order to spite Darkshadow, they appeared to open of their own accord.

"On the back of your neck is a small device, which has usurped complete control of your motor functions. In short you're mine to control. Now, you're probably wondering what I could possibly have planned."

Althea was silent, not merely out of an attempt to anger Darkshadow, but because she literally had no choice in the matter.

"Your boyfriend has something that I want. Last time I tried to take it, I almost got killed. This time, I have decided to take a somewhat less direct approach. You see, if I was to command you to do something, you would use every skill and power you possess to accomplish that task. You will die, trying to complete it. Now listen closely."

"Where is she, damn it!" Shouted Toad, shaking a dazed Cobra officer. Toad was standing on the roof of a large multistory building, and dangling the officer over the edge.

"I-I swear, I don't know who you're talking about."

"Althea," snarled Toad, "Where is Althea?"

Althea stalked across a building, still not in control of her movements. She saw Toad in the distance, and changed direction.

"Don't play games with me," growled Toad, "The FoH never would have managed to get Al. So that leaves you. Now tell me, where is she!"

Althea landed silently on a building next to the one Toad was on. She drew a sword attached to a belt on her waist.

"This is your last chance," said Toad, "Then I'm going to go find a more cooperative source of information, and let you fall. Where is Althea?"

Althea approached Toad from behind, sword drawn.

Toad let go of the man with one hand.

Althea swung the sword.

Some sixth sense told Toad he was in danger. Without thinking he threw the man backwards, knocking Althea temporarily off balance. She quickly recovered and charged him again. Toad leapt aside, rolling as he hit the roof, and quickly getting back to his feet.

"Al, what are you doing?"

"Darkshadow sends his regards!" She charged him again. Toad dodged, and kicked the sword out of her hand, catching it in his own. She quickly drew a second sword.

Now that Toad could actually defend himself, Althea acted more cautiously. She slowly circled him, but he turned so his back was never to her. Then she charged again. Toad blocked every move she made, but he was fighting purely defensively. As a result, he was slowly driven back to the edge of the building. Althea locked swords with him, trying to tip him over the edge.

"Al, I know you're still in there somewhere! You've got to fight him!"

Althea scoffed, and kicked Toad in the stomach. Toad stumbled back, lost his footing and slipped over the side of the building.

The Master stood on a high cliff and shouted at Hulk, "If you ever want to see Betsy Ross again, you will come alone to Bayville, and speak to my associates the X-men!" And with that he hurried away, lest the Hulk retaliate. The Hulk stared after him for a moment, and then leapt towards Bayville. The Master laughed, "The fool! Thinking that I actually had Betsy! HAHAHAHAHA!"

A few hours later Hulk landed outside the town.

"Great," quipped Kurt, "Just what we needed." Hulk's eyes flicked towards the X on Kurt's uniforms.

"X-men kidnap Betsy! Hulk smash!" He roared and charged Kurt.

Kurt leapt up, onto Hulk's head and teleported him away from the town, at the same time hitting his communicator and yelling, "We've got trouble! The big green variety!" Hulk tried to grab Kurt, but Kurt managed to evade his hands and teleported Hulk several times in rapid succession, hoping to daze him. It worked, somewhat. Hulk was not unconscious, but he stumbled about somewhat, trying to get his bearings.

Xavier sat in the center of the Danger room, with Wolverine standing at the door to make sure that no one would break Xavier's concentration. Xavier reached out with his mind, and touched Hulk's. The pure, savage bestiality shocked Xavier for a moment, but he reached again into the Hulk's mind, looking for Bruce Banner's psyche, and bringing it to the surface.

Hulk clutched his head, and then looked dazedly about at the wreckage he had strewn about.

"What's happening to me? I'm the Hulk, but, I'm me as well, and at the same time. This is very odd. Very odd indeed."

Kurt looked up from the ground where he had dove to avoid Hulk's strike, and said, "Well I for one am not complaining."

Bruce Banner, with the strength of the Hulk proved to be an enormous asset to the X-men. Cobra and the FoH simply could not stand against him. Destro, commanding the Cobra forces from outside the town quickly realized this and ordered his men to begin withdrawal. Personally, he was thankful to be able to get out before the silver clad specter attacked him again. So absorbed was he with this thought, that he did not notice that same man watching him enter his helicopter. As it began to take off, the Silver Samurai ran towards it, and leaping managed to make it into the passenger area. Destro grabbed a gun, and began firing at him, but the Silver Samurai deflected the bullets with his sword, and then advanced on Destro. Destro leapt backwards out of the helicopter, and pressed a small button. The helicopter exploded, but not before an android indistinguishable by casual sight from Destro leapt out as well.

"Hmm," smirked Destro, "That was rather anticlimactic." And with that he pulled the ripcord and his parachute billowed out, as he pressed

Road Pig lifted his rocket launcher and watched as Destro landed in a grove of trees. He then fired. Destro hurled himself to the ground. The rocket whizzed over his head and detonated some distance away.

"Damn it!" Swore Road Pig, then, "A most unfortunate turn of events."

"I'll get him," said Torch over the communicator. Standing a distance away he fired his flamethrower, igniting the entire grove. "All right, Road Pig, finish him off."

Road Pig grinned and fired a second rocket, this time onto into the ring of fire caused by Torch. Monkeywrench then finished the job by lobbing several grenades into the area. When the fire finally died down, some time later, Destro was lying motionless on the ground. Buzzer cautiously approached him, and removed the helmet.

"Damn it!" He swore, "It ain't him, it's an android. The real Destro must have landed somewhere else."

"Let's just hope he didn't see us try to fry his imitation," said Zartan, stepping out of the shadows.

"Yes, let's." Replied Road Pig, "Uhh, yeah!"

Lance awoke groggily, and found himself trapped to an operating table, with a restraining collar around his neck, and a small wristband around his left wrist. A man wearing a ridiculously tall helmet, which nevertheless served to conceal his face, noticed he was awake.

"You may as well go back to sleep, it's gonna be a while before we get to base. Normally we would have flown back to base, and been there by now, but the boss wanted you to feel comfortable, so we're driving. Relax kid, you're with AIM now. You work with us, and we'll make you're life a whole lot easier."

The unspoken threat was clear. Work against us, and you'll regret it.

Althea stepped to the side of the building and peered over the edge. There was no sign of Toad. She turned to go back to Darkshadow's lair, but Toad leapt back over the edge, from where he had been concealing himself under a window ledge. Althea whirled about as soon as she heard the noise, and lunged at him. Toad blocked her sword with his own and attacked. The fight raged back and forth, Toad blocking all of Althea's attempts to break through his guard. Then, beginning to tire and realizing he had no other choice, he went on the offensive. Fortunately for Toad, it was no longer raining, and Althea couldn't gather water from a puddle without letting her guard down.

Then, unexpectedly, for both of them, Toad lunged, and Althea failed to block it. The sword went through her stomach, impaling her. She dropped to the ground.

"Noooooooooooooo!" Shouted Toad. Desperately, he picked Althea up, and slung her over his shoulders. Then he hopped towards the Institute.

He appeared like a wraith in what was left of the infirmary, and laid her down on one of the beds, turning to McCoy and saying, "Help her." Offering no further explanation, he bent over her and embraced her whispering.

"I swear Althea, it's Darkshadow or me this time."


	10. Crime and Punishment

**This is just one of those stories that get completely out of control. I don't know _how_ I'm going to wrap it up, but I will try. For now though, chapter eleven, with a little something for the geeks.**

**Crime and Punishment**

Toad stormed into the Institute and faced Hawk, who was sitting in a chair in the middle of the room, guarding the door with a machine gun.

"Where's Roadblock?" Toad asked; his voice dangerous.

"Toad, what's going on?" Asked Hawk.

"Where is Roadblock!" Toad shouted.

Hawk gestured to the war room. Toad strode past him, and into the war room, where Roadblock was studying a map of Bayville.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me?" Asked Toad.

"What are you talking about?" Said Roadblock, his voice level.

"You know what I'm talking about. The Destiny Stone! The reason that Darkshadow came after me! The reason that Althea is laying in the medical wing fighting for her life!"

"Todd," said Roadblock, "You have to understand that-"

"That what? That you thought I'd be easier to manipulate if I didn't know what I could do? That there was no reason to tell me about a mystical power that possessed me? Save it," he turned, and started inputting coordinates on his watch. "I don't want to hear it." He disappeared.

Toad reappeared on top of a New York rooftop. He took the watch off of his wrist and crushed it with his foot, then hopped onto a fire escape, and climbed down into a back alley.

"Well, well, well," came a voice from the mouth of the alleyway, "If it isn't the world famous Toad. I don't know about you guys, but I don't want no stinkin' muties in my town."

Toad whirled around to see a gang, most of them holding makeshift weapons such as baseball bats or bike chains, spreading out to cover the entire entrance to the alleyway.

"Trust me," said Toad, "This isn't a good time for you to be messing with me. Just back off, and we'll go our separate ways."

"Well would ya look at that," said the leader, "It doesn't want to fight us. Shame that we don't feel the same way, huh fellas?"

Without any further exchange of words, the gang charged him. Toad leapt up, somersaulting over the head of one, kicking off the wall, and landing behind them. While they struggled to deal with this unexpected tactic, Toad charged into them, disarming and knocking each one out with a few blows.

One of them managed to get behind him and wrap a bicycle chain around his neck. Another swung a baseball bat. Toad flipped the man with the baseball chain over his head, putting him in the path of the bat. Then he kicked the man with the bat in the stomach, took the baseball bat from him, and hit him in the small of the back with it. The man crumpled to the ground. Then three more charged him.

Toad was a skilled fighter, but he had a bad wound in his shoulder, and he was exhausted. This, coupled with the overwhelming numbers, turned the fight against him. Finally a lead pipe connected with his head and he sank to the ground. One of the men produced a switchblade, and knelt to slit Toad's throat. Suddenly there was the sound of a machine gun rapidly firing, and the man sank to the ground. The other's whirled, only to meet with the same fate.

Toad's rescuer knelt to check Toad's pulse, and then slung him over his shoulders in a fireman's carry.

Toad awoke in a small apartment, lying on a couch. His rescuer, sitting in an armchair across from him looked over at him.

"Good," he said, "I was wondering when you'd wake up. Or if, for that matter."

"Who are you?" Said Toad, sizing up the man. He was large, well muscled, and there was something in the way he held himself that implied he knew how to use those muscles. And even beyond that he was armed to his teeth. He had more guns visible on him than Toad could count, as well as a bow and quiver of arrows on his back, and a wide array of knives on his belt.

"My names Frank Castle, but, for the most part I'm called the Punisher, or some other names I won't repeat."

"I've heard of you," replied Toad, "You're some sort of vigilante."

"My family got killed because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Punisher, "And because a mobster wanted to make sure there were no witnesses to a little family hanging. I'm making sure that they pay for that and that that ain't gonna happen to anyone else."

"I appreciate the rescue," said Toad, "But why am I here?"

"Two reasons. First off, after that gang jumped you, I figured you probably wouldn't be safe in a regular hospital, and I have some field medical training."

"What's the other reason?"

"I need your help with something."

"What?"

"Do you know who the Kingpin is? Never mind, I know that you do. I want to kill him, but more than that, I want to destroy his empire first. But in order to strike fast enough, in order to cripple him before he can realize I've declared all out war on him, I'd need to be in two places at one."

"Which is where I come in?" Said Toad, beginning to understand.

"I won't ask you to kill," said Punisher, "As long as you don't ask me to let them live."

Toad thought for a moment, then looked at Punisher, "Where do we attack first?"

A mugger, escaping from the scene of his crime never saw him coming. Within seconds he was disarmed, and beaten down. He was left cringing on the hood of a police car, begging the cops to arrest him as soon as they returned.

A drug lord, secure in his penthouse apartment suddenly found an arrow sticking out of his throat. By the time his bodyguards, hearing his scream, rushed in, he was laying on the floor, dead.

A group of robbers, thinking they had made good their getaway, were taken by surprise, and left bruised and broken in a pile in front of Kingpins apartment building.

As the gang lords left the meeting one at a time, they were picked of by a sniper crouched on a stone gargoyle. The last one turned and ran back inside, only to be pursued, and eventually stabbed to death.

"Unacceptable," said the Kingpin, looking over his city, "Simply. Not. Acceptable. There is only one man ruthless enough to be behind this," he whirled on Hammerhead, "I told you I wanted the Punisher dead! I paid you to make him dead! You told me that he _was _dead! And yet somehow, this dead man is out there, doing his best to bring my empire to its knees! And what's more, he is succeeding! Let me make this perfectly clear, by this time tomorrow, I want either his head or yours."

"I think I can help you with that," Kingpin and his bodyguards whirled around. The Punisher stood in the door, and he was holding a gun pointed directly at the Kingpin.

"You know how ruthless I am," he said, "And you know that I'm not bluffing when I say I'll kill you if you move."

"What do you want?" Said Fisk, his hand grasping his cane, "Money? I can give you more than you've ever imagined having in your life."

"Put the cane down Fisk, I'm not an idiot," said Punisher, "And as to your question, what I wanted was to see your face when you realized you'd finally lost this private little war of ours.

"What makes you so sure that you have?" Asked Fisk, smiling. Suddenly Punisher had the distinctly unpleasant feeling that there were at least twenty laser sights playing across his back.

"You see, I knew as soon as I heard about your first attack that you'd be here tonight," gloated Fisk, "So I took the liberty of setting a little trap. One that you obligingly walked right into."

"That's what you think," said Punisher under his breath, and then, more loudly, "But do you honestly think I'm that slow? Even if those goons do manage to kill me, you'll be dead first. Tell them to stand down."

"Please, don't insult my intelligence. I know you have no intention of letting me walk out of here alive. And if you are to die, who will carry on your crusade against crime? No, it would appear for the moment that we are stalemated."

"Not quite," said the Punisher smiling wolfishly, "Now!" he shouted.

A ceiling tile above the men behind Castle was suddenly kicked out and Toad dropped into the center of the men. He was rested now, his wounds bandaged, and perhaps most importantly of all, he had the element of surprise on his side. Within seconds the last of the men hit the ground. Toad stood beside Castle, his hand on his sword.

"Looks like I broke your stalemate," he said grinning, "Clumsy me."

"You think this is over?" Yelled Fisk, "Guess again." He depressed a hidden button on his cane, "My thumb comes off this switch and the whole building comes down on top of all the innocent secretaries and tellers."

"And you expect us to believe that you'll let _us_ walk?" Said Punisher, the gun never wavering.

"No. In fact the bomb story was just a distraction." Fisk swung the cane up and fired a small dart that lodged in the ceiling above Toad and Castle's head. Immediately it began spewing some sort of gas. Punisher started shooting, but with remarkably agility for a man of size, Kingpin had thrown himself to the ground, behind a desk. The bullets missed, and the gas began taking effect. Due to his smaller body mass Toad succumbed first, falling onto the ground. Punisher, realizing that he couldn't win this fight lobbed a grenade, slung Toad over his shoulders and stumbled back out of the room. He made it into the elevator, and sent it down to the lobby before he passed out.

"Idiot's," muttered Kingpin, dusting his suit off, "Do they honestly believe that I wouldn't secure the elevators in my own building?" He picked up a phone.

"Detonate the elevator explosives." Without giving any further explanation he slammed the phone down.

"Um, Mister Fisk, I don't think that they did believe that," said Hammerhead, pointing at a pile of small gray orbs lying in the doorway.

For the second time in as many seconds Fisk threw himself to the ground behind his desk.

Toad came to in Castle's apartment again.

"Did you get him?" He asked.

Punisher handed him a pill. "Painkiller," he explained, "For the headache you probably have. But no, there was no way I would have been able to get him before I passed out from the gas. We lost."

"It's not over yet," said Toad, "We pretty much cleaned house as far as his criminal empire goes. It's gonna take him a while to build that back up. And until then, he's vulnerable."

"To what? A full frontal attack? We tried that. He blindsided us and nearly killed us."

"So we won't attack full on. Kingpin can't have been the only crime lord in the city. Considering how vulnerable his empire is, do you really think there's any chance that his enemies won't try to seize it?"

"So, what you're saying is, we wait and watch," began Castle.

"And when one of his enemies attacks, we'll take advantage of the confusion, and finish him off," finished Toad.

"I like the plan, but I need to do this myself."

"I can help you,"

"I know, but I've already put your life in danger. And besides, I can't afford any hesitation. You're not wiling to kill."

"Fine." Said Toad, walking out of the apartment, "But if you need me, I _can_ help you."

As Toad wandered the streets, he heard the sound of somebody roaring, "When I catch you no good yahoos it's clobbering time!"

"You mean if you catch us!" Came the taunting reply. Toad glanced at the street name, Yancy Street. A few moments later, a huge orange rocky _thing_ stormed out of the alley.

"No good Yancy Street little…" he muttered storming off.

_Well _that's_ something you don't see every day, _thought Toad. _Hey, he's that guy from the Fantastic Four, isn't he? Small world, I guess._

**That's all for now.**


	11. Aftershocks

**Aftershocks**

The helicopter pilot, under Scott's direction, set the helicopter down outside Bayville. But as soon as the skids touched the ground, Lance's eyes snapped open and began glowing white. The ground began shaking violently, and the helicopter began rocking back and forth. Scott and Lance fell out onto the ground, and the helicopter pilot quickly took off. Scott considered blasting the helicopters rotors off while it was still low enough that the pilot would survive the fall, but soon had more pressing matters to attend to.

A tendril of earth crept around his foot and pulled him violently off balance. Several other tendrils quickly crept over his legs and pinned them to the ground. Before he could reach for his visor to blast the earth off his legs, or to knock out Lance, five more tendrils had crept over his chest, pinning his arms to his sides. Soon he was encased in an earthen shell going from his feet to his neck. He managed to twist his head to the side just enough to see that Lance was standing astride a wave of earth which was traveling towards the institute.

Scott, however, was unable to reach his communicator to signal the X-men, or Misfits, and thus could give them no warning that Lance was traveling towards them. There was one way he could free himself. Scott began to methodically shake his head from side to side, gratefully that the shell he was trapped in allowed him at least that much freedom.

Althea woke to find Shipwreck standing over her.

"Dad?" She said weakly.

"Shhhh," he replied gently, "Just calm down."

"What happened?"

"Darkshadow," said Shipwreck, his face clouding, and indicating he was not willing to go into detail. "But don't worry, Toad got the ba-" he paused, looking at Jamie, who, with a large croup of clones was doing several jobs, such as changing bandages and handing out painkillers to several Joes, "Toad got him."

"Where is Toad?"

"He found out, well, Darkshadow told him something. He left, and then he destroyed his tracker."

"Lance?"

"We haven't heard anything on Scott _or_ Lance," said Shipwreck. Then, as if on cue, the ground shook violently.

"Looks like Lance is back," deadpanned Shipwreck, "Jamie, one of you keep an eye on Al, ok?" Without waiting for a response he ran for the stairs.

Lance was in what was left of the mansion's front yard. He was standing on top of a large spire of earth. In front of him were Magma, Roberto and Jean, encased in earth up to their necks. Peter, in his metal form, was attempting to climb the rock spire, but every time he dug out a handhold, it filled back in. As Shipwreck came out, a tendril of earth wrapped around Peter's leg and pulled him down. Before Peter could fight back, he too was so completely encased that he could only move his neck.

Kitty ran out, yelling something at Lance. Lance's eyes fluttered, and the shaking stopped.

"Kitty?" He said weakly. "Kitty! Help me!" Suddenly the shaking resumed, more violently than ever. At the same time, spikes of earth started to erupt from the ground. Many of them completely surrounded the Institute. However, a ridge of spikes started erupting, heading directly towards the town hall.

Spyke shot a spike from his forearm, pinning the wrist of a FoH militant to the wall. The man let out a scream, and started firing at Spike with the gun in his other hand. Spike punched the man in the face, knocking him out. Meanwhile, several other Morlocks were tearing down anti mutant slogans off the town hall.

The mayor stumbled out. "Y-you can't do that you freaks!" He shouted. Suddenly, the ground rumbled, and the spike Evan had meant as a warning shot grazed the mayor's head leaving a bloody streak. Before anyone could react, the ground wrapped around the mayor's feet pulling him off balance. Several tendrils of earth lifted him up so that he was spread-eagled a few feet above the ground. A spike erupted from the earth several feet away from his head. Another erupted next to it, considerably closer. A third grazed his forehead as it erupted.

Lance stood on a platform of earth as it traveled closer to the mayor. His eyes were glowing white. He raised one hand, and clenched it into a fist. A large spire of earth shattered the roof of the Town Hall, and then the whole building sank into the ground. Logan charged Lance, claws extended, but a ring of earth encircled him, and even as he cut through it, it repaired itself.

A spike of earth erupted from the ground and pressed itself against the mayor's neck. A small amount of blood appeared as it broke his skin. Not one of the Morlocks made a move to stop him.

A blunt tower of earth appeared, shot up, and cracked several of the mayor's ribs. The spike at his throat continued to press against it.

As Althea watched, Charles took the Cerebro helmet off his head.

"I'm afraid that it's no use," he said, "His mind is so jumbled that it would be impossible to stop him without leaving him in a vegetative state.

"What exactly is happening to him?" Asked Althea.

Ray tried to zap Lance, but a wall of earth shot up, absorbing the blast. Then the wall slammed into Ray, who crumpled to the ground.

"For some reason, he experienced a sudden drop in his conscious control of his powers. As a result, his subconscious took over." Replied Xavier.

"So why is he trying to kill the mayor?"

"I can't tell you for certain without being able to read his mind, but I would say that he's lashing out at the most obvious symbol of bigotry and mutant hatred. Which, it comes as no great surprise, is the mayor."

Iceman approached Lance from behind.

"If I can just get close enough to tackle him," he murmured, having learnt from Ray's mistake not to attempt a long range attack. However, no sooner were the words out of his mouth, then the ground underneath him opened into a hole. As soon as he hit the bottom it sealed over him.

"The only way to stop him would be to either kill him or manage to render him unconscious. And the only practical way to do either would be to get close to him. And since all attempts to physically reach him have been halted…" Charles stopped talking and donned the Cerebro headset.

Earthen pillars shot up around Rahne as she charged Lance, and then formed a roof over her head, low enough that she would have to stay in her wolf form.

Jubilee created a brilliant flash of light, hoping to blind Lance, but, despite this, she was still sunk up to her neck in earth. Wolverine, seeing this happen snarled and began even more frantically to try and cut through the earth wall separating him from Lance. However, it still continued to renew itself, even as he hacked away at it.

Storm soared overhead towards Lance, who, startlingly enough seemed to take no notice of her.

_Ororo, _came a voice from behind her ear, _it is imperative that you stay in the air, and out of his sight, I will explain later. For now, be ready to act on a moments notice_.

_Charles,_ she thought, _what must I do?_

Jamie handed Beast another bandage, then…

_Multiple, I need you to relax. I'm going to borrow your central nervous system._ As one, Jamie and his ten clones walked towards the door.

The Mayor whimpered as another pillar of earth smashed into his kneecap, shattering it. Suddenly a beam of bright red light struck at Lance, smashing through the earth wall that rose to block it. It hit Lance, who fell, then rose again.

Scott's uniform was badly torn, he was caked with dirt, and he was favoring his left leg. What's more, he had lost his visor. Lance clenched his fist, and the ground started to shake violently.

_Now!_ Storm, hearing Xavier's urgent command struck at Lance with a lightning bolt. A wave of earth stretched over his head and froze there, absorbing the bolt.

_Continue! You can't afford to let up!_ She cast lightning bolt after lightning bolt, but the earthen sheild continued to absorb them. Meanwhile, Scott was looking directly towards Lance, who had an earthen wall deflecting the optic blast. Then fifty Multiples charged towards Lance. Most of them were trapped in earthen cages, but one of them got through and jabbed a needle into Lance's arm. Lance's eyes rolled up in his head, and he collapsed. The ground started shaking extremely violently, one of the effects thereof being that a great deal of dust was cast up into the air, making it impossible to see exactly what was happening.

Back in the Institute, Xavier started suddenly, and then slumped back into his wheelchair, unconscious.

Wolverine quickly realized that the wall was no longer renewing itself, and managed to cut through, and, using his sense of smell reach the area where Jubilee was imprisoned. However, a large chunk of rubble fell on him, pinning him to the ground.

When Logan came to, Blob was standing over him, tossing the chunk of concrete that had been on top of him into a large pile. Jubilee and the rest had already been freed. However, there was no sign of Lance.

Some time later, at the institute…

"Does someone want to explain to me exactly what just happened?" Asked Althea, "I mean, I know what happened to Lance, but how did any of the Multiples get through, and where did Lance go?"

"The Professor guessed, correctly, that even in that state, there was a limit to how much Lance could handle at one time," explained Scott, "He projected his astral form to guide me to Lance, and coordinated my attack with Storm's. At the same time, he controlled Multiple and his clones, and, with Lance concentrating on holding off Storm, Logan, and I, he managed to get one of them through, and hit Lance with a…" He turned to Hank, "What was in again?"

"Low grade horse tranquilizer, actually," replied McCoy. "We couldn't risk using anything less potent."

"Anyways, Xavier is resting. Even with Cerebro, and Multiple's semi-linked consciousness, it took quite a toll on him to be in over fifty places at once."

"What about Lance? Does anybody know what happened to him?"

"By the time the dust had cleared, he, and for that matter, the Morlocks, were gone."

"I wonder if there's a connection there," mused Hank, "Is it possible that the Morlocks took him with them when they left?"

"It's possible, but if they did so, it's not going to be easy to find them. Lance's breakdown probably did as much damage to the sewers as it did to the surface," replied Scott, "And what's more, the professor shorted out Cerebro when he used it to stop Lance, so we can't even use that when we try to pinpoint them."

"I may be powerful," added Jean, "But without a full powered Cerebro scan, which rules out the portable in the Blackbird, I would have a hard time finding him, especially if the Morlocks are trying to hide him."

"I'll take a team down to the sewers," said Scott, "And question the Morlocks, but I doubt that they'll admit it, even if they do have him. Does anybody now the extent of the damage Lance did?"

"Well, almost everybody had been evacuated by that point," replied Bruce, who had reverted to his human state shortly after Cobra had pulled out of Bayville, "So the worst case, aside from the mayor, was two broken arms. But as far as the property damage goes, I'd be lying if I said some primal part of me wasn't impressed. I'm not sure _I _even ever managed to cause that much damage in that little time."

"Mayor's still in intensive care," said Lina, "But he's stabilized. He's also still sedated, which is good, because as soon as he wakes up, chances are he's going to denounce Lance as a terrorist and an attempted murderer."

"Which only makes even more imperative that we find Lance as soon as possible," said Scott. "Logan, X23, you're with me. Kurt, scout out above ground. You need to familiarize yourself with the town again anyways, considering how much rubble there is lying around." Scott attempted to stand, but his leg gave way beneath him, and he collapsed back into the chair.

"Ow! I think I may have sprained my ankle when I tried to stop Lance back when we landed. Ow!"

"Maybe I had better lead the team," said Storm, "You stay here and recover."

"Well, I'd help look," said Althea, "But I'm kinda still recovering from the sword through my stomach. Fred, help sort rubble, if Lance is trapped underneath, I want to know. Lina, go with him. If _anybody_ is trapped under the rubble, they're going to need medical attention."

"Got it," said Lina, and she and Fred left.

_A few hours earlier._

Lance awoke, opened his eyes, and saw nothing but darkness. He blinked several times, and as his eyes adjusted to the dim light, he saw that he was in a large, cool chamber. The only light came from a grimy light bulb mounted on one wall. Around him were many inert forms, most with some sort of bandaging.

"You're awake then?" Came a voice. Lance looked up to see Spyke standing over him. Lance tried to sit up, but Spyke forcibly shoved him down, and put a spike to his throat. "Listen, I didn't want to bring you down here, but Callisto said that after what you did to the mayor, you at least deserved some basic medical attention. But you see all these people down here? Only about half of them got hurt by the police, the FoH, or whoever the hell those others were. You know what happened to the rest of them? You. Your little stunt with the earthquakes. So let me make this perfectly clear. The only reason you're still alive is on Callisto's orders. But there is no way in hell I'm going to let you go back up to your cozy little sunsider life and forget about what you did to these people. So what you're going to do is this, you're gonna stay down here and help these people. And then, after you've done enough to make up for what you did, I'll let you go. If you try to run, I'll kill you, and damn my orders. Got it?"

Lance nodded, and Spyke said, "Good." He handed Lance a canteen. "Drink." Lance complied and felt something hot sting his throat. Spyke saw his expression and smiled mirthlessly. "It'll get you up on your feet. Now get up and start helping."

Wordlessly, Lance obeyed.

**Next: Lance's imprisonment, and the after effects of Kick.**


	12. Underground

**Underground**

Twenty hours.

That's how long it had been since Lance awoke and Spyke put him to work. He was more exhausted, physically and mentally than he had been since he had left Magneto. But even if it had not been for Evan's threats to his life, Lance would not have stopped working. Not while the people down here still needed him. Not while they were still suffering because of him. Not while he could still do something to relieve that suffering.

He had done all he could for the people in the room where he had awoken. Now he had been supplied with a shovel, and he had been working to clear some of the main tunnels for ten hours. He was not working alone, far from it in fact, there were several Morlocks working alongside him. And almost every one of them was either pointedly avoiding looking at him, or glaring at him with hatred as they worked. Lance had removed his shirt a few hours after he started working, and sweat was pouring down his chest. He had lost all feeling in his arms a few hours ago, which, considering the pain they had been in at the time, was a relief. He moved another rock, and saw a hand. The hand moved weakly.

"There's somebody under there!" He shouted, "Somebody alive." The Morlocks immediately left off what they were doing and began moving the rubble off of the body. Somebody lifted her up and deposited her in Lance's arms. Without consciously thinking about, Lance carried her to the room where the wounded were being tended. He laid her down on the bed, made sure that she wasn't losing any blood, and no bones were broken, made sure that her pulse was steady, and then left her and returned to the tunnel where he once again went to work clearing rubble away.

There was something wrong besides his exhaustion though. It felt like his blood was burning. Yearning for something. Lance shoved the thought out of his head and continued working.

"Came across another dead end," said Logan, returning, "Couldn't risk cutting through it. By the looks of things, the rubble was the only thing keeping the whole tunnel from caving in."

"Find any Morlocks?" Asked Scott, checking off the tunnel Logan had investigated on a map of the sewers.

"Nothing. And no sign of Lance, besides the rubble," replied Logan. He took the pen from Scott and marked where the blockage had been.

"I'm gonna head back down," said Logan. "How's 'Ro doing?"

"She's calmed down now," replied Scott, "It's just that the cave in…"

"Trapped her. She did well though. Stayed calm enough to let Jeannie now where she was. Otherwise…"

Logan didn't need to finish. Scott was perfectly aware that if Storm hadn't alerted Jean to her predicament, she probably would have suffocated before she had been found.

Twenty-two hours.

Lance had donated his pants, so the fabric could be used to help make into a crude blanket for one of the Morlocks with a bad fever. His shirt had met the same fate. His shoes he had parted with a long time ago, to a barefooted Morlock moving through tunnels full of broken glass. So now he was in sock feet and his boxers, a state which several female Morlocks had remarked there appreciation of. Spyke, seeing this, had threatened to do grievous harm to certain parts of Lance's body if he even thought about taking advantage of it. Funny thing was, he had sounded almost exactly like Logan threatening Remy. Lance laughed silently as me moved a large chunk of rubble.

The numbness had spread to his shoulder muscles now, for which he was very grateful. Now, if only his back would stop aching so badly…

Twenty-three hours.

The thirst in his blood had grown worse, and he had begun to shake violently. There was something, just out of conscious reach, that he was sure would explain it. But his mind was completely absorbed with keeping him on his feet, and moving the rubble in front of him.

Logan returned again.

"Ran into another dead end," he growled, "This time though, I picked up Lance's scent, on the other side of the rubble." He marked the blockage on Scott's map. "I'm running out of tunnels."

"The odd thing is this, there's a large area we haven't explored," said Scott, "So far every tunnel that leads there has been blocked."

"Every tunnel on that map," corrected Arcade, walking in with a transparent sheet of paper. "But I've been doing some digging in the city's digital archives, and there's a whole network of fallout shelters and supply tunnels that was never put on the normal maps."

"Why not?" Asked Scott.

"Well, they were built early during the Cold War, and only the top town officials knew about them, so as to keep vital information from falling into Soviet hands. After the Cold War ended, they weren't seen to have any practical use, so they were just forgotten about. Except…" He laid the transparency on top of Scott's map, "For the original blueprints, which were kept in the city archives until a couple of years ago, at which point they were transferred online."

"According to this," said Scott, "There's an entrance right under City Hall, which leads directly to the area that's otherwise sealed off."

"Which would explain how Lance got down there," said Logan, "I'll take the half-pint just in case that's blocked too." He walked out of the room.

"You should get some sleep you know," Arcade told Scott, "Not all of us have healing factors that can take this much punishment. I'll take over your shift."

Scott nodded gratefully, and limped over to a large armchair, where he collapsed, asleep before he hit the chair.

Twenty-four hours.

Lance felt like he was going to collapse, not through physical fatigue, but from the thirst in his blood. His hands had begun to shake so badly that he was unable to hold the shovel, and had begun digging by hand. He was grateful, now more then ever, that his hands were numb. He hardly noticed anymore when the Morlock shifts changed. It wasn't like it was a reprieve for him.

The tunnel wasn't blocked, Logan discovered, and he told Kitty to wait at the entrance.

"If Lance is down there," she had replied, "There is like, no way that I'm staying."

"If Lance is down there," reasoned Logan, "and they don't want to give him up, I'll need an ace in the hole."

Unable to argue with that logic, Kitty had reluctantly agreed to wait.

Twenty-five hours.

Lance discovered that his arms didn't work below the elbow anymore. Gamely, he had begun to push the rubble filled cart, keeping his arms stiff. He emptied the stone and metal in an area where several Morlocks were building supports for a tunnel, and was on his way back to the tunnel he was clearing when somebody said his name.

Lance turned, expecting nothing beyond somebody with a different task for him to fulfill, or perhaps Spyke, checking on him to make sure he wasn't slacking. However, as he turned his legs gave way beneath him and he collapsed onto the stone floor, mercifully losing consciousness before he hit.

Lance awoke in a small chamber where Callisto and Spyke were talking with Logan.

"I'm not going to let you 'rescue' him," said Spyke firmly.

"You think you can stop me Porcupine?" Asked Wolverine, extending his claws.

"Enough," interrupted Callisto. She turned to Spyke, "We're in no condition for a fight with both the X-men _and_ Misfits, especially with Orpheus missing," she turned to Wolverine, "If you want him so badly, take him."

"No," said Lance, climbing to his feet. "I'm not done here yet."

"You sure about this?" Asked Logan.

Lance nodded, and then smiled weakly, "Tell Scott I'm finally cleaning up after myself."

Logan strode back up the tunnel.

"Was he, like, there?" Asked Kitty.

"He was there," replied Logan, "And he decided to stay there."

"What? Like, be a Morlock?" Asked Kitty in disbelief.

"No, more like help clean up the mess his quakes made of the sewers."

"But…"

"His choice," said Logan, "And to be honest, I think more of him now than I did before he made that choice.

"He said _that_?" Asked Scott after he had awoken, and Lance's decision been explained to him. "Unbelievable."

"That he said that, or that it's true?" Asked Althea.

Scott looked at her, "Both."

Thirty-one hours.

After his refusal to leave, Lance had been granted grudging respect by Spyke. More importantly to him, he had been given five hours to rest, as well as an MRE. He was working again now, this time helping to build braces for the tunnels. Since he didn't have the super-strength necessary to shape the braces, he was mostly helping hold the braces up while they were fastened to the ceiling.

The thirst in his blood had subsided with sleep, but it was beginning to grow steadily stronger again.

"Bad news," said Lina, "The mayor's no longer sedated, and as predicted, he's calling for Lance's head on a platter. He's requested assistance from the National Guard in a war on the Morlocks."

"Are your communications back up?" Hawk asked Scott. Scott shook his head.

"Then I need to go to Washington."

"Why?" Asked Althea.

"Because at this point, the only people with enough political clout to stop this situation from getting any worse are the Jugglers." Replied Hawk, "And because I'm the only one in this room that the Jugglers will actually hear out," he turned back to Scott. "I assume your hangar facility is still operational?" Scott nodded and Hawk walked out of the room, followed by a Joe known as Wild Bill. At the door, Wild Bill turned to Scott and said, "We'll need to borrow an aircraft."

Scott tossed Wild Bill an electronic key, saying, "That will allow you to use any aircraft in the hangar. Just point it at the control panel."

Thirty-one-and-one-half hours.

Spyke walked into the tunnel where Lance was working, "We just got news that the mayor's trying to get the National Guard to come after us. I need you all to start carting rubble to the open tunnels and build a barricade. Leave enough room that one man could fit through, but just for now. I'll be sending out foraging parties, in case they decide to lay siege to us."

As they started to leave, Spyke put his hand on Lance's shoulder.

"Not you. You'll be foraging, solo. Best way to cover ground. You find a lot of food, clothes, or batteries, _especially_ batteries, they're hard to come by, come back and tell me. I'll send out a bigger party to bring it all down."

Lance nodded mutely. He understood what Spyke was doing. He was testing him. If Lance didn't run now, he could be trusted. If he did, well, Lance was willing to bet that he wouldn't be completely solo, no matter what Spyke had told him.

Lance climbed over what had been built of the barricade, and began sorting through the rubble, hoping against hope not to run into any of the X-men. He found a couple cans of soup, a box of matches, and a trenchcoat. The soup and matches went into his bag, and he donned the trenchcoat.

_I feel like a flasher_, he thought, not without amusement. He went to another pile of rubble, and began sorting through. This time he found several pairs of pants, a shirt, and a breadbox, which was, to his surprise, intact. He opened it up, and took out several loaves of bread. They also went into his bag, except for a few slices which he used to satisfy his growling stomach.

The next five piles yielded a case of bottled water, a few batteries, and a can of beans. Then Lance turned to what had once been a grocery store. He filled up his sack with various canned goods, and then returned to the tunnel. He climbed over the barricade, which, in a tribute to the Morlocks determination and cooperation, was considerably higher than it had been when he had left. He deposited his bag in a pile, and told Spyke about the food store. Spyke looked at the trenchcoat and raised an eyebrow.

"You look like a flasher," he said, amused.

"You know," said Lance, "I had exactly the same thought, but I figured it had to be less conspicuous than wandering around in my boxers."

"Only slightly," replied Spyke.

"And you're depriving _us_ of a great view," said Thornn, mock indignant, as she deposited another rock on top of the barricade. Lance grinned and climbed back over the barricade.

Hawk was pleading his case before a group of Jugglers, who were sitting in the shadows, using voice disruptors.

"The events that took place in Bayville in the last few days can be seen as a _direct_ result of the conflict between Bayville City officials and the Morlocks," he said.

"Perhaps," said one of the Jugglers, "But then, were not Cobra and AIM also both involved?"

"You know as well as I do that our intelligence says they had planned their assault to take advantage of that conflict," snapped another.

"Be that as it may," said a third, "would not rooting out the Morlocks eliminate any chance there might be of them instigating a future conflict?"

"To begin with," said Hawk, "This won't be settled with a simple skirmish. The Morlocks in Bayville alone would pull up a hell of a fight. And attacking them would be likely to provoke Morlocks in other cities to begin openly attacking government representatives. In short, by showing military support of the mayor of Bayville, you might well provoke a war that would be waged in major cities across America."

"A war which terrorist organizations such as Cobra would be sure to take advantage of," said a new Juggler, "And I think all the members of this council know that at this particular time, we can't afford to give Cobra any openings."

There were murmurs of agreement.

"Very well," said the first Juggler, "No federal organization will interfere in the situation in Bayville. You are dismissed."

Thirty-four hours.

Lance was on his fourth trip when he ran into Kitty. Literally. She walked through a wall and solidified right in front of him before he could stop. As he stood up, then offered her a hand, she looked at the trenchcoat quizzically. As she opened her mouth, Lance held up his hands.

"I know, I know, I look like a flasher. But it was either wear this or walk around in my boxers, and it's starting to get chilly out."

"What happened to your clothes?" She asked.

He shrugged, "Figured it was the least I could do after what I did to the sewers. What I'm doing now is another part of my penance, if you want to call it that." He knelt down and picked up a can of beans. Into his sack it went.

"Theft?"

"Well, first of all, I doubt anyone would have laid claim to this stuff anyways," Lance said, "Second, I only take stuff from places rich enough to have insurance. And finally, you'd do the same thing if you'd spent ten hours looking at kids thin enough that you can see their ribs through their shirts."

"Well, they're like not watching you right now, right?" Asked Kitty, "Come one, you can get back to the Institute."

"I could have gone back when Logan came to get me," replied Lance, "I did a lot of damage, and now I'm working to make it right," he stooped to pick up a bag of apples in relatively good condition, then handed her a vial, "This is what AIM injected me with. Have Beast analyze it." He put the apples in the bag, then said, "Look my bag's full, I gotta go." He kissed Kitty, long and hard, and then broke away.

"Don't worry about me," he said, "I'll take care of myself. And I'll be back. I promise. Knowing me, probably when you least expect it." He turned and left.

Kitty stared after him a moment, and then walked back towards the Institute, a tear in her eye.

**Next, Toad makes a new friend, and learns more about the mysterious Daredevil.**

**Meals Ready to Eat, essentially military rations.**


	13. Chasing Shadows

**Chasing Shadows**

_Now there's something you don't see every day_.

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than something struck him in the back between the shoulder blades. A blade was placed to the back of his neck.

"Not one inch, tadpole," said Darkshadow, "I can remove the Destiny Stone from you when you're dead just as easily."

"Then please, just kill me now and spare me your gloating," said Todd.

"Not that easy, tadpole. This was just a warning. To let you know that you're never safe. No matter where you are, no matter what you're doing. I can be there at any time. And you'll never see me coming."

The weight on his back vanished, along with the sword point. Toad leapt to his feet and spun around, but Darkshadow was gone.

Beast looked at the contents of the vial under the scope. "Incredible," he murmured. I had no idea they'd come so far."

"What was that?" Asked Althea, trying to sit up. In an instant Beast was by her side.

"Careful," he said, "You lost a lot of blood during your ordeal."

Althea blinked as she remembered what had happened.

"Oh, god. Todd? Is he all right?"

"He went after he returned you here," said Beast, "However, before that he had a heated argument with the good General, after which, he departed the mansion. He appears to have shed his teleported watch, and we have not yet been able to locate him."

"What? Why would he leave?"

It was at that moment that General Hawk entered the room. "Althea," he said, "We need to talk."

"I don't blame him for leaving!" Shouted Althea, "How could you not tell him that?"

"Look, we all know Todd's heart is in the right place, but how do think he would have handled that?"

"He had a right to know! _I_ had a right to know!"

"Damn it, control is not Todd's strong suit! What do you think would happen if he knew he had that sort of power?"

"And why didn't you tell me?"

"Would you have kept it from him? Be honest."

"No," said Althea, "Because he had a right to-"

"Exactly," said Hawk. "You should rest."

"I'm not going to-"

"That's an order," said Hawk.

Althea stormed out of the room. A moment later Shipwreck entered through another door.

Hawk sank down into a chair and rubbed his temple. "How long were you there?"

"The whole time," said Shipwreck. "Are you sure it's a good idea not to tell her?"

"You saw how she reacted to finding out about Toad. If we told her that she had half of the stone in her, there's a good chance that she would have taken off. And I cannot afford to lose any more of my people right now."

Shipwreck shook his head, "You're just putting this off you know. She's going to find out sooner or later."

"As long as it's once the current crisis has passed," replied Hawk.

Logan walked into Hank's lab, just in time to see him inject himself with something.

"What was that?" He asked. Hank spun around, still holding the needle in one hand and the vial in the other.

"That was the stuff Lance sent back with Kitty," said Logan quietly.

"Not quite," said Beast, "It was a separate sample that AIM sent me." He shook his head. "I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry, I'm not thinking clearly."

"You're working with AIM!" Shouted Logan. He took a few steps forwards, claws out, and then paused

"What the hell is happening to you?" He asked.

Two things were, in fact, happening to Beast. First, his fur was changing from blue to a dark grey, bordering on black. Second, his very frame was changing, from a furry blue ape to something that vaguely resembled a bipedal lion.

"They are never going to stop hunting us!" Shouted Beast, "Mutants are the future! We have to take control, for everyone's sake, mutant _and_ human! AIM is just a means to an end, as is Cobra."

At the mention of Cobra Logan leapt at Beast, claws outstretched. Beast easily caught his wrists and threw him up against a wall. As Logan was climbing to his feet, Beast kicked him in the chest. Wolverine hit another wall. Again, he tried to climb to his feet, but Beast clapped a collar around his neck.

"Nghh," said Beast as his body continued to change. "Another gift from AIM. Power restrainer." He grabbed a scalpel from a table and slashed Wolverine's throat before leaving.

"The Blackbird's launching!" Said Scott. He and some of the other X-men, Misfits, and Joes were in the War Room.

Xavier put a hand to his temple. "I can't get a fix on whose inside. They're using a psionic scrambler."

It was at that point that Logan, hand over his throat, fell through the door. Scott, whatever his faults may be, was capable of assessing this sort of situation at a glance. He put his hand to his visor, and blasted off the collar.

Logan gasped for air as his windpipe began reconstructing itself.

"Doctor McCoy," said Cobra Commander, "Have you done something with your hair?"

"Very funny," growled Beast, "Listen, my cover's blown."

"Of course. You're welcome to stay here doctor. We could always use a man of your capabilities.

"No! I won't do it! It's a violation of everything I-"

"It's quite possibly the only way we're going to hold the world after we take it. If GI Joe, the X-men, even the Brotherhood come at us, you think the shapeshifters are going to help? They've demolished armies before, they can do it again."

"Damn it, that doesn't justify-"

"McCoy, the ends always justify the means. Isn't that why you joined us in the first place? So you could make over this world into a utopia?"

"I will no violate my oath as a physician."

"It will get done either way. If you don't do this, the entire deal is off. You will have betrayed the X-men, the Misfits, and your country for nothing."

Beast hung his head. "What do I have to do?"

"They're already drugged up. All you have to do is implant this microchip in they're head as part of the brainwashing program."

Toad closed his eyes. Footsteps, pounding the roof, growing fainter. Todd leapt halfway up a fire escape, and from there to the roof. He was just in time to see Darkshadow's back as he leapt down the next roof. Toad ran after him, slowly closing the gap. Finally, he tackled Darkshadow, pulled a knife from its sheath on Darkshadow's hip, and placed it to the back of Darkshadow's skull.

"This ends now." He said.

"I wouldn't count on it," said Darkshadow from behind Todd. Todd spun, throwing the knife. Darkshadow snatched out of the air, and easily tossed it back. "No," he said, "Not good enough. Perhaps next time." And then he was gone.

Todd turned to the body double he had tackled, drawing his own knife and putting it to the man's throat. "Where is he!"

"I can't tell you. He'll kill me."

"So will I," said Toad. "And I'm right here. So where is he!"

"Fine! He's got a warehouse. I'll give you the address. Just let me live!"

Todd left the ventilation duct, and sighed. "Why can't these things ever take place in a well lighted warehouse?" He asked.

A moment later he caught a crossbow bolt aimed at his throat.

"Very good," said Darkshadow from somewhere in the warehouse. "I was wondering when you'd arrive."

"You knew I was coming? That's impossible."

Todd focused even as he spoke, trying to find Darkshadow by the sound of his voice.

"Not at all." The voice came from directly behind him. Todd spun around and thrust with his sword, destroying a small speaker. "Did you honestly think he would have given up this location if I hadn't told him to?"

Todd's eyes had adjusted somewhat to the dark, and saw a light switch. He hit it. The warehouse was practically empty, except for a few speakers scattered throughout the room. And Darkshadow.

Darkshadow leapt at Todd, swinging his sword. Todd blocked the blow with his own sword, and the two fought. As fast as Toad was, Darkshadow was a little faster. As strong as Toad was, Darkshadow was a little stronger. He backed Toad against the wall.

"Did you honestly think you were a match for me?" Asked Darkshadow, as Toad barely managed to block a blow that would have cracked his skull open.

"No," said Toad. "I brought help."

Punisher, who had been lurking in the shadows started shooting. Darkshadow dodged the stream of bullets, but just barely. He threw a smoke bomb at the source of the gunfire, and then whirled back to face Todd, just in time to see Todd ram a sword threw his chest.

"Impossible…" said Darkshadow. "I can't lose."

"That's for Al." Said Todd, as Darkshadow collapsed.

**And thus ends the exploits of our favorite evil ninja. For now at least.**


End file.
